The mass shooting at an Independence Day parade in Highland Park, Illinois, poses a familiar question: Why didn’t the state’s “red flag” law, which is designed to disarm people who are deemed a threat to themselves or others, prevent the perpetrator from buying the rifle he used in the attack? The gun control law that […]
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul last week signed legislation that supposedly complies with the Supreme Court’s recent ruling against her state’s restrictions on carrying guns in public. In New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, decided on June 23, the Court said New York’s “proper cause” requirement for carry permits violated the Second Amendment. […]
The Supreme Court yesterday vacated four appeals court decisions upholding gun control laws, remanding the cases for reconsideration in light of its decision last week in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. The remanded cases involve Hawaii’s restrictions on carrying guns for self-defense, California’s 10-round magazine limit, a similar New Jersey law, […]
When it ruled against New York’s restrictions on gun possession outside the home yesterday, the Supreme Court delivered a rebuke to government officials who presume to decide which individuals may exercise a constitutional right. The decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen is also a rebuke to lower federal courts that […]
Senate negotiators unveiled a bipartisan gun control bill yesterday, hours before it survived a preliminary vote with enough support to overcome a filibuster. Sixty-four senators voted to advance the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which expands background-check requirements for gun buyers younger than 21, widens the categories of people who are not allowed to buy firearms, […]
As a bipartisan group of negotiators hammers out a gun control package that will have enough support to pass the Senate, one seemingly uncontroversial proposal—closing the “boyfriend loophole” for firearm purchases—has proven unexpectedly contentious. Democrats want to expand the disqualification for people convicted of misdemeanors involving domestic violence beyond the current categories, while Republicans worry […]
It is easy to understand the bipartisan appeal of a policy that promises to reduce gun violence by targeting dangerous individuals instead of imposing broad limits that affect millions of law-abiding Americans. So it’s not surprising that the Senate gun control deal announced on Sunday includes federal grants aimed at encouraging states to pass and […]
Sen. Tom Cotton (R–Ark.), who apparently has never encountered a criminal penalty he thought was too severe, wants to create a five-year mandatory minimum sentence for illegal gun possession. Cotton and the eight Republican senators who are cosponsoring his bill present it as an effective way to reduce violent crime, in contrast with the harebrained […]
The Biden administration says H.R. 7910, a bill imposing new age restrictions on sales by federally licensed gun dealers, “would ensure that individuals under 21 years of age cannot purchase weapons of war.” But H.R. 7910, dubbed the Protecting Our Kids Act, sweeps much more broadly than the phrase “weapons of war” suggests, covering all […]
The New York Times reckons that four gun control measures Congress is considering “might have changed the course of at least 35 mass shootings” since 1999—one-third of attacks in which a gunman killed at least four people. While that conclusion is excessively optimistic, the newspaper is at least asking the right question: Are new restrictions […]