Pam Bondi, Donald Trump’s Legal professional Common choose, cruised by her affirmation listening to this week.
“I’m an advocate for the Second Modification, however…” summed up her temporary remarks on gun coverage and affirmed among the pre-hearing gripes gun-rights teams had together with her. It additionally appears to be like prefer it received’t even be a pace bump on her method to acquiring the highest legislation enforcement gig within the nation. Whereas Bondi’s upcoming tenure will not be as unhealthy as for gun-rights advocates as whoever Kamala Harris may need picked, I clarify for members why it nonetheless serves as one other clear indicator of the place on the totem ballot the gun-rights motion matches in as we speak’s GOP coalition.
The Supreme Courtroom delivered largely unhealthy information to gun-rights advocates this week, too. It rejected a number of Second Modification challenges. Though, it additionally left open the potential of taking over among the most consequential.
In the meantime, one other federal appeals courtroom has determined the Supreme Courtroom’s Rahimi resolution didn’t actually change something regardless of the Courtroom asking it to rethink its earlier ruling in mild of it. The Third Circuit as soon as once more blocked Pennsylvania’s efficient ban on gun carry by 18-to-20-year-olds throughout declared emergencies.
We even have a visitor publish about how a landmark resolution on firearms forensics was overturned and the potential penalties of that motion by Radley Balko of The Watch (his unbiased publication that you need to take a look at if you happen to haven’t already). And Contributing Author Jake Fogleman lays out the small print of the brand new Colorado AR ban proposal and why it’s extra more likely to go this time round.
Plus, NRA board member Rocky Marshall joins the podcast to elucidate why he thinks the group is lastly on the precipice of a brand new period. I additionally talked with Cam Edwards on his podcast about adjustments within the new nationwide reciprocity alongside a slew of different attention-grabbing tales down within the hyperlink part.
Trump AG Decide: ‘I Am an Advocate for the Second Modification, however I Will Implement the Legal guidelines of the Land’By Stephen Gutowski
President-elect Donald Trump’s Legal professional Common nominee defended her file on gun coverage throughout her affirmation listening to.
On Wednesday, Pam Bondi advised the Senate she stood by her file on weapons. When Senator Alex Padilla (D., Calif.) questioned her, Bondi emphasised that she has “all the time been pro-Second Modification.” Nevertheless, she additionally stated she’d observe relevant legal guidelines.
“I’m an advocate for the Second Modification, however I’ll implement the legal guidelines of the land,” Bondi stated.
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Evaluation: Why Trump AG’s Affirmation Listening to is Unhealthy Information for Gun-Rights Activists [Member Exclusive]By Stephen Gutowski
Anytime a politician begins a sentence with “I’m an advocate for the Second Modification, however…” gun-rights advocates have a tendency to show a skeptical eye of their course. That’s what Pam Bondi did throughout her affirmation listening to, however the context surrounding these feedback could also be a worse signal for the gun-rights motion because the president it backed is about to take workplace.
On Wednesday, Donald Trump’s Legal professional Common choose described herself as a Second Modification advocate who would “implement the legal guidelines of the land.” When requested about her assist for brand new gun restrictions throughout her time as Florida’s AG, together with backing age restrictions and serving to craft a “pink flag” legislation, she pointed to her expertise responding to mass shootings as formative for her gun views. Whereas she declined to endorse any explicit gun-control proposal, her clarification of her beliefs sounded much more like what you’d count on from a contemporary Democrat than the subsequent Republican AG.
Extra troubling for gun-rights activists than Bondi’s feedback, although, could also be who they have been in response to. As an alternative of a grilling by skeptical Republicans in search of gun-rights assurances in alternate for his or her votes, the questions on Bondi’s gun file have been posed by a California Democrat hoping she’d decide to publicly backing the insurance policies she supported however on a nationwide degree.
Not a single Republican Senator requested Bondi about her background on weapons or how she would possibly deal with the difficulty as AG.
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SCOTUS Rejects A number of Second Modification Instances, Relists Gun Ban ChallengesBy Jake Fogleman
On a day when gun-rights advocates hoped that the Supreme Courtroom would announce its subsequent massive Second Modification case, it solely knowledgeable them which of them it was turning away.
On Monday, the Excessive Courtroom denied petitions for certiorari in Maryland Shall Concern v. Moore and Grey v. Jennings. The instances challenged Maryland’s handgun-purchase licensing necessities and the preliminary injunction customary set within the case in opposition to Delaware’s gross sales ban on “assault weapons” and “large-capacity” ammunition magazines.
Not one of the justices wrote individually to elucidate or dissent from the denials.
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Appeals Courtroom Blocks Pennsylvania Emergency Gun-Carry Ban After Supreme Courtroom RemandBy Stephen Gutowski
One other Second Modification case remanded by the Supreme Courtroom has come again with the identical conclusion.
On Monday, a Third Circuit panel reaffirmed its resolution to dam a Pennsylvania ban on open carry by 18-to-20-year-olds throughout declared emergencies. By a 2-1 vote, the panel discovered the ban violated the Second Modification. The bulk stated, upon assessment, it correctly adopted the Supreme Courtroom’s precedents in New York State Rifle and Pistol Affiliation v. Bruen and US v. Rahimi.
“We conclude that our prior evaluation displays the method taken in Bruen and clarified in Rahimi,” Choose Kent A. Jordan wrote in Lara v. Comm’r Pa. State Police. “We did certainly take into account ‘whether or not the challenged regulation is according to the rules that underpin our regulatory custom[,]’ not whether or not a ‘historic twin’ of the regulation exists. Having decided that Rahimi sustains our prior evaluation, we are going to once more reverse and remand the District Courtroom’s judgment.”
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Evaluation: Chicago Choose Erases Historic Ruling In opposition to Firearms ForensicsBy Radley Balko
Within the case of Illinois v. Winfield, legal professional Richard Gutierrez of the Prepare dinner County, Illinois Public Defender Workplace requested a Chicago decide to carry a listening to on the scientific validity of forensic firearms evaluation. That is the sphere that claims to have the ability to match a bullet or shell casing to the gun that fired it. Circuit courtroom decide William Hooks agreed to carry the listening to, and after contemplating proof from the state and protection, he issued a landmark opinion in February 2023 which barred prosecutors from placing their analyst on the witness stand.
It was the primary such ruling on forensic firearms evaluation by any prison courtroom within the nation. A handful of state and federal courts had beforehand put restrictions on the language these analysts typically use on the stand, citing the dearth of scientific analysis to assist their conclusions. However Hooks’s opinion was the primary to bar an analyst’s testimony solely. It was a giant deal, as a result of forensic firearms evaluation is among the commonest sorts of experience within the prison authorized system. Juries across the nation depend on it every day to ship hundreds of individuals to jail every year.
However as of final month, Hooks’s ruling is not legitimate in Illinois. After a weird sequence of occasions, which started with an allegation of racism in opposition to Hooks and resulted in his retirement, the decide who changed him then vacated the opinion, successfully erasing it from Illinois case legislation. Identical to that, a small bombshell and lengthy overdue win for science-based forensics was taken off the books.
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Podcast: NRA’s Rocky Marshall on the Alternative for a Recent BeginBy Stephen Gutowski
The Nationwide Rifle Affiliation seems to be on the finish of a six-year ordeal. Final month, the ultimate order in its New York civil corruption case was handed down, and the skin legislation agency answerable for dealing with it has left.
To speak in regards to the newest developments, now we have NRA board member Rocky Marshall on the present this week. He joined us from the group’s newest board assembly in Texas and stated the group is concentrated on the longer term.
You’ll be able to hearken to the present in your favourite podcasting app or by clicking right here. Video of the episode is out there on our YouTube channel.
Plus, Contributing Author Jake Fogleman and I cowl what the most recent NICS knowledge present about how a lot gun gross sales dropped in 2024. We additionally talk about one other federal appeals courtroom delivering an unchanged verdict on a case remanded by the Supreme Courtroom, this time coping with the gun rights of a non-violent marijuana consumer. We additionally cowl Home Republicans re-introducing nationwide hid carry reciprocity in Congress, a brand new semi-automatic firearm ban proposal in Colorado, and the way the main gun-control teams say they’re feeling as the brand new administration will get set to take workplace.
Audio right here. Video right here.
Evaluation: Unpacking Colorado’s New Semi-Auto Ban Invoice, Odds of Passage [Member Exclusive]By Jake Fogleman
Unchastened by two current failed makes an attempt, Colorado lawmakers are again with one other effort to ban AR-15s and different semi-automatic firearms. There’s motive to suppose the third time may very well be the appeal.
The Colorado Common Meeting formally gaveled again in Wednesday for the 2025 legislative session. By the top of the day, lawmakers had already launched Senate Invoice 25-003. The “Semiautomatic Firearms & Speedy-Fireplace Units” invoice would criminalize the manufacture, distribution, switch, and buy of any “specified semiautomatic firearm,” outlined as any semiautomatic rifle, shotgun, or gas-operated handgun with a removable journal.
Basically, the invoice is a reframing of an already novel twist on “assault weapon” ban laws first floated within the US Senate in 2023. The Fuel-Operated Semiautomatic Firearm Exclusion (GOSAFE) Act, launched by Senators Martin Heinrich (D., N.M.) and Angus King (I., Maine), marked the primary legislative effort to ban semi-automatic firearms with removable magazines whereas selling limited-capacity, fixed-magazine options.
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Outdoors The Reload
A New Twist on Proper to Carry Reciprocity | Cam & Co | By Cam Edwards
Ex-NRA chief Wayne LaPierre information attraction discover difficult $4 million judgment in New York corruption case | Courthouse Information Service | By Erik Ueblacker
Fifth Circuit upholds bar on folks below indictment shopping for weapons | Reuters | By Nate Raymond
Ninth Circuit received’t rehear arguments on its resolution to uphold gun-free zones in Hawaii and California | Courthouse Information Service | By Michael Gennaro
Monetary monitoring of Ohio gun patrons banned | The Heart Sq. | By J.D. Davidson
The Armed Householders Defying the Guidelines of L.A.’s Burn Zones | Wall Road Journal | By Sean McLain, Dan Frosch, and Joe Flint
Illinois decide guidelines in favor of gun rights group over Prepare dinner County’s gun, ammo tax | The Heart Sq. | By Greg Bishop
Democrat AGs Combat to Maintain ATF Rule on Gun Sellers Intact After Trump Takes Workplace | Bearing Arms | By Cam Edwards
Police use of Maine’s yellow flag legislation spiked in closing months of 2024 | Portland Press Herald | By Joe Lawlor
Georgia voters fear about shootings however don’t again gun limits, AJC ballot finds | Atlanta Journal Structure | By Greg Bluestein, Tia Mitchell, Patricia Murphy, and Adam Beam
That’s it for this week in weapons.
If you wish to hear skilled evaluation of those tales and extra, ensure you seize a Reload membership to get our unique evaluation publication each Sunday!
I’ll see you all subsequent week.
Thanks,Stephen GutowskiFounderThe Reload
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