Good morning, Bulletin readers. In today’s briefing, news on the gun world’s go-to bank, and a sweep of headlines with the same unfortunate theme: firearms in the hands of children and teens, with scary — or tragic — results.
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WHAT TO KNOW TODAY
While other banks and financial firms reduce their ties to the gun industry, Wells Fargo is doubling down. Filings show that Wells Fargo, which operates the primary bank accounts of the National Rifle Association, recently extended a $40 million line of credit to Sturm, Ruger & Co. “That’s on top of the $431 million in debt that Wells Fargo has arranged for gunmakers since Sandy Hook,” Bloomberg News reports. “No other bank lent more to the industry over that time.”
Twice over the weekend, teens were charged with manslaughter after another teen was fatally shot. Sixteen-year-old Kaylen Thomas died of a bullet wound to the head on Friday at a house in an Oklahoma City suburb. Police have taken a 15-year-old boy and girl into custody for manslaughter amid an ongoing investigation. Officials have not said whether the shooting was unintentional. In Dallas early Sunday, another 16-year-old girl was fatally shot at a party where other attendees were playing around with a gun. Police found Jakiyah Wrightsil dead on the floor of an apartment as a large group dispersed. A 19-year-old has been arrested for her death.
Meanwhile, two teens were arrested after bringing a gun onto a Maryland college campus and threatening to harm a student. Police officers located the 17-year-old and 18-year-old in a parking lot of Montgomery College in Germantown and apprehended them following a short chase on Friday. And in Florida, a 9-year-old boy was arrested after threatening other children with a gun he brought to school last week. The third grader pointed the .380 caliber handgun at classmates and reportedly said “You see this, this is a real gun.” According to police, the boy felt bullied. He was arrested and charged with aggravated assault; it was not immediately clear how he had gotten ahold of the weapon.
In Tennessee, a gun — or threat of a gun — is reported at a school nearly once every three days. That’s according to a new analysis from the USA Today Network, using data from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Even after reporters factored out false alarms, the state remains “an outlier when it comes to guns in schools,” with rates double the national average most years. Since 2001, there have been 10 deadly shootings at Tennessee schools.
