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Tag: Gun Control

  • Illinois governor signs ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines

    Illinois governor signs ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines

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    Illinois House approves assault weapons ban


    Illinois House approves assault weapons ban, bill heads to state Senate

    02:47

    Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law a bill banning the sale and distribution of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines on Tuesday evening. The ban takes effect immediately.

    The House voted 68-41 to approve the Protect Illinois Communities Act last week, and the bill passed the Illinois Senate by a 34-20  margin on Monday before heading to Pritzker’s desk.

    “For the past four years, my administration and my colleagues in the State Capitol have been battling the powerful forces of the NRA to enshrine the strongest and most effective gun violence legislation that we possibly can,” said Pritzker in a statement. 

    The bill had been debated for years, but found renewed support following the July 4 Highland Park parade massacre last year, which left seven people dead and dozens more wounded. The 21-year-old suspect used a legally-purchased semiautomatic weapon, prosecutors said.  

    Under the new legislation, according to CBS Chicago, long guns will be limited to 10 rounds per magazine, and handguns cannot have more than 15 rounds. It also bans “switches” — devices which convert legal handguns into assault weapons — and additionally extends the ability of courts to prevent “dangerous individuals” from owning a gun through firearm restraining orders, the governor’s office said.  

    Under the new law, those who already own weapons on the banned list can keep them, but need to register them with Illinois State Police within 300 days. 

    Highland Park memorial
    A makeshift memorial of flowers is left near the scene of a mass shooting during a Fourth of July parade, on July 5, 2022 in Highland Park, Illinois. 

    Jim Vondruska / Stringer / Getty Images


    Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, who herself survived a mass shooting in 2011, also expressed support for the legislation, saying that she applauded legislators in the state “for having the courage to act to remove these weapons of war from our streets.”

    Rep. Bill Foster of Illinois tweeted out his support for the new law as well, writing, “Proud Illinois is setting an example once again.”

    Pritzker has signed other notable pieces of gun control legislation during his tenure as governor, including a law last year that banned “ghost guns” — unregistered and untraceable homemade weapons — making Illinois the first Midwestern state to do so. In 2021, he signed a law expanding background checks on gun sales statewide. 

    C Mandler


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    C Mandler is a social media producer and trending content writer in New York, focusing on LGBTQ+ issues.

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  • Supreme Court asked to step in on New York concealed carry firearm law | CNN Politics

    Supreme Court asked to step in on New York concealed carry firearm law | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    New York Attorney General Letitia James asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to allow a new state law that places restrictions on carrying a concealed firearm to stay in effect while legal challenges play out.

    The dispute is the first time the court has been asked on an emergency basis to consider a significant Second Amendment case since last summer’s ruling that expanded gun rights nationwide.

    In that case, New York State Rifle v. Bruen, the court struck down New York’s prior concealed carry gun law. A 6-3 majority said the law prevented law-abiding citizens with “ordinary self-defense needs” from exercising their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms for self-defense.

    Just days after the opinion, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, convened a special legislative session to pass a new law called the “Concealed Carry Improvement Act” on July 1. But the new law came under immediate attack as gun owners said that it was in direct “defiance” of the Supreme Court decision and continued to make it too difficult for ordinary citizens to obtain concealed carry permits.

    Last fall, a district court blocked key provisions of the new law, related to requirements that an applicant demonstrate “good moral character,” provide a list of all former and current social media accounts from the past three years and “sensitive place” restrictions that include health care settings, churches and parks.

    In December, however, a federal appeals court put that decision on hold and ordered expedited consideration of the matter with opening briefs due on January 9. Now, gun owners want the Supreme Court to step in.

    In an emergency application filed on December 21, a lawyer for the gun owners asked the justices to step in and he defended the district court opinion. He said it was “carefully designed to limit New York’s enforcement of a sweeping gun control statute, enacted in retaliation against New York gun owners” for having prevailed in the Bruen case.

    The lawyer, Stephen D. Stamboulieh, said that the 184 page opinion was “meticulously tailored” to “uphold the right of New Yorkers to keep and bear arms.”

    The justices are not considering the merits of the case, only whether to lift the appeal court order pending appeal.

    “Although it comes in an emergency -application posture, the request represents the first chance for the justices to weigh in on how lower courts are applying the Bruen decision and its new doctrinal framework for Second Amendment cases,” said Andrew Willinger of the Duke University School of Law.

    In Tuesday’s filing, James said the district court’s opinion was “riddled with errors” and urged the justices to stay out of the dispute and let the appeals court ruling stand. She stressed that the appeals court had expedited consideration of the new law and that “further percolation of the relevant issues in the lower court is needed to inform” the Supreme Court’s review.

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  • Guns temporarily banned from Brazil’s capital ahead of Lula da Silva’s inauguration | CNN

    Guns temporarily banned from Brazil’s capital ahead of Lula da Silva’s inauguration | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A Brazilian Supreme Court judge on Wednesday issued a four-day ban on carrying firearms in the capital as a precautionary measure ahead of the January 1 inauguration of President-elect Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva.

    In his ruling that temporarily suspends the licenses of registered gun owners, Judge Alexandre de Moraes wrote that “terrorist groups financed by shameless magnates” have been committing crimes against the rule of law in recent weeks, which is why public safety had to be made secure via a temporary firearms ban.

    If a registered gun owner is caught in Brasilia with a firearm in those four days, they can be prosecuted for illegally carrying a weapon, according to the ruling.

    Lula da Silva’s team had requested a ban on firearms at the inauguration days after police arrested a man on suspicion of planting and possessing explosive devices at Brasilia International Airport.

    The suspect, identified as 54-year-old gas station manager George Washington de Oliveira Sousa, is a supporter of incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro and told the police in a statement, seen by CNN, that he intended to “create chaos” so as to prevent Lula da Silva from taking office again in January.

    The firearms ban was to start on Wednesday at 6 p.m. local time (4 p.m. ET) and will run through the end of Sunday. It will not apply to active members of the armed forces, policemen and private security guards, Moraes wrote.

    Even though Bolsonaro’s administration has said it is cooperating with the transition of power, the far-right leader has stopped short of explicitly conceding his election loss on October 30. In protest, thousands of his supporters have gathered at military barracks across the country, asking the army to step in as they claim, with no evidence, that the election was stolen.

    According to the police statement, Sousa arrived in Brasilia from his home state of Para on October 12 to join other Bolsonaro supporters, who were camped in front of the Armed Forces headquarters in the city.

    Sousa said he was inspired by President Bolsonaro to spend over $30,000 to purchase the guns and ammunition, according to his statement. CNN has reached out to Bolsonaro for comment.

    Violence has flared in the country ahead of Lula da Silva’s inauguration.

    In mid-December, protesters clashed with police in the capital Brasilia as they attempted to break into a federal police building following the arrest of an outspoken Bolsonaro supporter.

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  • I Lacked This One Critical Skill That Nearly Cost Me My Career and My Life

    I Lacked This One Critical Skill That Nearly Cost Me My Career and My Life

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    [Sensitive content: This article discusses gun violence]

    A gun was pointed a few inches from the center of my forehead. It was small. Maybe 22 calibers. Time slowed. Fight or flight kicked in, and I saw everything in my peripheral vision clearly. A couple of people were looking at us through a plate glass window from their table at the restaurant I had just left. My friends were a few feet away, wide-eyed and scared.

    You might be wondering how I ended up in this precarious situation, to begin with. Well, moments before, I was walking out of a restaurant. It was late, maybe 1 am. I had felt this kid staring at me. At this point, I decided to walk over to his car and ask him, “what’s up?” Did I need to do this? No. Was it provocative? Yes. And now we all know how this questionable decision could have cost me my life.

    It goes without saying that this encounter has had a lasting impression on me. It has helped shape who I am, the decisions I make and who I am striving to become. You might, however, be surprised to hear that this pivotal moment didn’t mark the end of my abrasive behavior (that came later), it did, however, serve as the most poignant reminder of how conversations can go sideways — fast.

    Over the years, I learned that the use of empathy, in such precarious situations — or even less volatile ones — has tremendous power to turn situations around to create positive outcomes. Especially in business.

    Related: What Is Empathy, and Why Is It So Important for Great Leaders?

    While many in the business world fixate on data, analytics and technology, they should spend as much time analyzing and understanding the motivations, emotions and varying perspectives of people. I am, of course, talking about prioritizing one’s emotional intelligence. The most gifted leaders out there understand how their actions and words affect those around them. They excel in social awareness and practice empathy.

    This did not come naturally to me. Early in my career, I was willing to achieve my goals at any cost, no matter how my actions affected others. Case in point: If someone from another department was blocking or slowing down my project, I’d leapfrog over them and exert downward pressure by looping in their manager. It always worked. My project was magically sped up or unblocked almost instantly. I justified my actions because they were in the best interest of the company.

    But the company is made up of people. People with feelings. And, when that type of downward pressure is applied to someone, it sours your relationship with them. They know you bypassed them. They feel belittled, pressured and then forced into compliance. And you’re the source of those feelings. Not only does this ruin your relationship, but it also adds friction to future projects because that person (and their team) won’t be invested in working with you. The end doesn’t justify the means. As the late, great Maya Angelou once said, “…people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

    Instead of exerting pressure, applying leverage or coercing peers to comply, I could have gained their buy-in and inspired them to help out voluntarily. I could have taken them out for lunch or coffee. I could have asked about their challenges. Asked what they were dealing with and how I could help them. People are smart. They will see what you’re trying to do, but most will appreciate it. It might take more time in the short term, but overall, you’ll strengthen the relationship. Plus, your project will be completed faster and at a higher level of quality. And who knows — maybe you’ll pick up some ideas you wouldn’t have come up with on your own.

    Related: Why Empathy Is a Crucial Entrepreneurial Skill (and How to Develop Yours)

    An overwhelming amount of research suggests that empathy and personal interest increase employee loyalty and trust. In Harvard Business Review’s Emotional Intelligence Series on Empathy, Emma Sappala writes how kindness and optimistic communications have more impact on performance than the number of zeros on an employee’s paycheck. The author explains in another article that responding with anger or frustration erodes loyalty.

    A study by Jonathan Haidt of New York University shows that employees become more loyal when leaders tap into empathy more deeply. Neuroimaging research confirms that our brains respond more positively to leaders who use empathy compared to those who do not.

    As with any other skill, practicing empathy can be developed, though it takes time. Every person is different, so we all have to discover the triggers that inspire and motivate us.

    Here are a few tips for practicing empathy:

    • Place yourself in someone else’s shoes and see things from their point of view.
    • Validate your understanding of what you think you’re hearing by recapping what’s being said.
    • Be aware of body language and adapt your communication strategy accordingly.
    • Be direct, but considerate — ask open-ended questions.
    • Avoid jumping to conclusions or making assumptions based on past experiences.
    • Don’t penalize anyone in public when it can be done in private.

    Bottom line: Understanding your employees builds trust, which in turn improves performance. Congratulate yourself on trying to understand them. Even when you fail.

    I’ve come a long way since that moment I was held at gunpoint. Luckily for me, the situation de-escalated quickly and I got another chance to reassess my ways — both personally and professionally. Having worked on my emotional intelligence and practiced empathy, I now know how to “read the room,” and connect emotionally with people around me. I can safely say, you’ll not catch me walking up to any lone stranger in the dead of the night asking provocative questions. Ultimately, being self-aware and understanding the risk factors presented before you is what makes business leaders great.

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    Louis Camassa

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  • “Fuck Biden,” “Don’t Tread on Me,” and a Wisconsin Death Trip for Our Times

    “Fuck Biden,” “Don’t Tread on Me,” and a Wisconsin Death Trip for Our Times

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    “The thing to worry about is meanings, not appearances.” —Michael Lesy, Wisconsin Death Trip, 1973

    Cecil, Wisconsin

    I went back twice to find out what the coffin meant, but though cars came and went in the driveway, nobody ever answered the door. Halloween in June, or a sign? Kitsch, or a warning? I’d been driving for a week, since the first night of the January 6 hearings, listening to them on the radio as I counted the flags. Not the American ones but the Trump ones. Trump 2024, two years ahead of time; and the red, white, and blue of the Confederacy, the yellow “Don’t Tread on Me” Gadsden. There are so many now. There’s new folk art too: handpainted “Fuck Biden” placards, homemade “Let’s Go Brandon” billboards, and DIY “Never Forget Benghazi” banners. The cities and towns still ripple with rainbow pride, their numbers are greater, but on many country roads the ugly emblems tick by like mile markers. 

    What was the coffin though? I was visiting friends in Cecil, Wisconsin, when we drove past it. They let me out to make a picture. “Careful,” they said, and, “We’ll come back for you,” because they didn’t want to linger. They sped away, leaving me in the green light. I made my picture. I waited. I read on my phone, on Twitter, that Wisconsin Republicans had blocked an effort to repeal a dormant 1849 law making any abortion—including for rape or incest—a felony. My friends returned, we fled. The next morning, the ruling came down: Dobbs v. Jackson, which overturned Roe v. Wade, and Wisconsin became the only “blue” state in which abortion is now effectively illegal.   

    In 1973—the same year the US Supreme Court decided 7–2 that Norma McCorvey, “Jane Roe,” had a constitutional “right to privacy” that included reproductive freedom—tennis champion Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in the televised “Battle of the Sexes.” Richard Nixon declared, “I am not a crook.” Henry Kissinger won a Nobel Peace Prize. Also in 1973, a book appeared called Wisconsin Death Trip. It began as a staple-bound pamphlet and as a book became an unlikely mirror of its moment, even as it depicted the last 15 years of the previous century. History’s like that, sometimes, our faith in the forward motion of chronology suddenly evaporating. Death Trip was, on the surface, a benign album of seemingly ordinary photographs—portraits, patriotic displays, happy youth—from one small town in Wisconsin, Black River Falls, during the last decade of the 19th century. Interspersed are excerpts from the town newspaper, the Black River Falls Badger State Banner, and whispers from a “town gossip.” In 1973, a year of crises as varied and vast as those of this year, most white Americans still imagined the previous century as an idyll, apart from a brief interruption for civil war, fought for reasons they thought “romantic.” Virtuous country life, bustling urban industry. American greatness. The Banner spoke other truths. Epidemic disease, whole families consumed; diphtheria, the formation in the throat of a “false membrane”; “astonishing bank failure”; “incendiaries,” arsonists who loved to watch things burn; “vigilance committees”; “the private made public”; a woman, once a “model wife and mother,” who roamed the state smashing windows; soul after soul, remanded to the asylum; so many suicides; a woman who died “from a criminal operation performed upon herself” after she failed to find a doctor with the courage to help her. There was beauty in the book too, even in its carefully arranged photographs of dead infants. That’s what you did then, when your baby died. If you had the money, you hired the town photographer to make the infant’s picture, tucked into a little coffin with flowers, eyes tenderly brushed closed.

    By Jeff Sharlet.

    Thirty years ago, the book’s author, Michael Lesy, was my teacher. The book, his first, has followed me ever since. “You can get as philosophical as you want,” Michael said when I told him I was headed to Black River Falls. He mimicked cheap gravitas. “‘From the deep ground grows the tree of life… ’” Then comes the end, yours or worse, that of those you love—“and nobody likes it when it happens to them.” A death trip is a memento mori, is a reminder that everybody dies. If that seems obvious, consider the desperate denial embedded in the phrase “Make America Great Again”; the light-eating vanity of Trump; the delusion of a golden brand that will shine eternally. Consider this gloating post-Roe meme: “A thousand-year White Boy Summer starts today.” But nothing lasts forever, not even white boys. A death trip, meanwhile, summons us to the precarious real. Not the myth of greatness. The pulse of uncertainty. The living, such as we are. 

    I got the news through a Wisconsin man I’d stopped to speak with that morning, who got it by phone from his wife, who heard it from her doctor, to whom she had gone not to end a pregnancy but to prepare for one. “Mary,” who told me her story on the newly necessary condition of anonymity, had been in the stirrups when the ruling came down. She wanted a baby, and this was the next step in the reproductive technology she and her husband had chosen—until suddenly it wasn’t. Following a course of fertility drugs, Mary now possessed three mature eggs. The nurse stepped out to consult the doctor. But when the doctor entered the examination room, she said, “I’m holding back tears.” 

    “I can’t recommend you continue,” the doctor said. Three eggs meant a risk of multiples. Twins Mary could handle. Triplets she could not. Not her finances and not her body. If she went forward, there was a miniscule chance all three eggs could be fertilized. One embryo might have to be removed. And that, as of  9:11 a.m. central time, June 24, in Wisconsin, could be a felony.

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    Jeff Sharlet

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  • 11/28: Red and Blue

    11/28: Red and Blue

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    11/28: Red and Blue – CBS News


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    Democrats address priorities in lame-duck Congress; Georgia Senate runoff enters final stretch

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  • CBS Evening News, November 28, 2022

    CBS Evening News, November 28, 2022

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    CBS Evening News, November 28, 2022 – CBS News


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    COVID lockdown protests sweep across China; White House unveils holiday theme and decorations

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  • Buffalo grocery store mass shooter pleads guilty

    Buffalo grocery store mass shooter pleads guilty

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    Buffalo grocery store mass shooter pleads guilty – CBS News


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    The gunman who killed 10 people in a racist attack at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, pleaded guilty to state charges. The guilty plea means he will be sentenced to life in prison. Jericka Duncan reports.

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  • CBS Weekend News, November 27, 2022

    CBS Weekend News, November 27, 2022

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    CBS Weekend News, November 27, 2022 – CBS News


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    Air travel reaches pre-pandemic levels for holiday weekend; New film “Devotion” tells story of first black navy pilot and man who tried to save his life

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  • Top Democrats push for renewed assault weapons ban

    Top Democrats push for renewed assault weapons ban

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    Top Democrats push for renewed assault weapons ban – CBS News


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    Congressional Democrats are reigniting their push for new gun control legislation in the wake of recent mass shootings. President Biden has stated he’ll move on stricter gun laws before the year is over. Nancy Cordes has the details.

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  • Another mass shooting highlights America’s stubborn gun control divide | CNN Politics

    Another mass shooting highlights America’s stubborn gun control divide | CNN Politics

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    A version of this story appears in CNN’s What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.


    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    America’s shameful tradition of gun violence reared its ugly ahead again Tuesday evening at a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia.

    At least six people were killed in the store, according to local officials, with four more victims in area hospitals.

    This follows a shooting at the University of Virginia that left three dead less than two weeks ago, and, even more recently, a shooting at a Colorado Springs LGBTQ nightclub that left five dead.

    It’s hard not to view each incident as yet another result of America’s polarized gun debate.

    Many Americans hold their right to bear arms, enshrined in the US Constitution, as sacrosanct. But others say that right threatens another: the right to life.

    Each shooting seems to entrench everyone’s respective convictions.

    In an all too familiar cycle, a shooting will prompt some to push for more gun control and others to lobby for less firearm regulation. A tense debate plays out before the issue fades from the national conversation.

    Then another shooting occurs – and we start the cycle over again.

    President Joe Biden on Wednesday again called for congressional action, but the reality of a divided Congress come January makes this unlikely.

    “This year, I signed the most significant gun reform in a generation, but that is not nearly enough. We must take greater action,” the president said in a statement.

    The more interesting political response to watch is Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who has been touted by some as future power player in Republican politics.

    “Our hearts break with the community of Chesapeake this morning. I remain in contact with law enforcement officials throughout this morning and have made available any resources as this investigation moves forward. Heinous acts of violence have no place in our communities,” Youngkin tweeted Wednesday morning.

    His message closely echoes his response to the University of Virginia shooting. “I know that there’s nothing that can be said, there’s nothing that can be done in order to bring them any kind of comfort today. And so, I think this is a moment for us to come together to support them, pray for them, recognize that as a community this is a chance to come together and grieve and support them. It’s just horrific, there’s no other way to describe it,” Youngkin said at a makeshift memorial at the school.

    On Thanksgiving, Youngkin also asked his state in a tweet to “lift up in prayer” the families of those killed in the mass shootings.

    Missing from his responses – heartfelt as they may be – is any mention of guns.

    If Youngkin is indeed the Republican Party’s future “unifier,” it doesn’t appear that will extend into gun control.

    There is a direct correlation in states with weaker gun laws and higher rates of gun deaths, including homicides, suicides and accidental killings, according to a January study published by Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit focused on gun violence prevention.

    Yet the political debate on gun control in America often becomes untethered from the data.

    Consider this: There have been at least 607 mass shootings through November 22 this year, defined as one in which at least four people are shot. That’s just short of the 638 mass shootings in the country at this point last year – the worst year on record since the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive began tracking them in 2014. There were a total of 690 mass shootings in 2021.

    The United States is likely to soon surpass the total of 610 mass shootings in 2020, with more than a month left of 2022 to go.

    What’s worse is the direction the data is trending. Per the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the firearm homicide rate was 8.3% higher in 2021 than it was in 2020. Firearm suicide rates among people 10 years old and older also increased by 8.3% from 2020 to 2021. And the percentage of homicides attributed to firearm injuries rose from 79% in 2020 to 81% in 2021, the highest percentage in more than 50 years.

    It certainly doesn’t have to be this way. Countries that have introduced laws to reduce gun-related deaths have achieved significant changes, a previous, in-depth CNN analysis found:

    Australia. Less than two weeks after Australia’s worst mass shooting, the federal government implemented a new program, banning rapid-fire rifles and shotguns, and unifying gun owner licensing and registrations across the country. In the next 10 years gun deaths in Australia fell by more than 50%. A 2010 study found the government’s 1997 buyback program – part of the overall reform – led to an average drop in firearm suicide rates of 74% in the five years that followed.

    South Africa. Gun-related deaths almost halved over a 10-year-period after new gun legislation, the Firearms Control Act of 2000, went into force in July 2004. The new laws made it much more difficult to obtain a firearm.

    New Zealand. Gun laws were swiftly amended after the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings. Just 24 hours after the attack, in which 51 people were killed, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that the law would change. New Zealand’s parliament voted almost unanimously to change the country’s gun laws less than a month later, banning all military-style semi-automatic weapons.

    Britain. (The country) tightened its gun laws and banned most private handgun ownership after a mass shooting in 1996, a move that saw gun deaths drop by almost a quarter over a decade.

    But America’s relationship to guns is unique, and our gun culture is a global outlier. For now, the deadly cycle of violence seems destined to continue.

    As a reminder, Biden signed into law the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act in June after the House and the Senate approved the measure. The package represents the most significant federal legislation to address gun violence since the expired 10-year assault weapons ban of 1994.

    “God willing, it’s going to save a lot of lives,” Biden said at the White House as he signed the bill.

    The package includes $750 million to help states implement and run crisis intervention programs, which can be used to manage red flag programs, as well as for other crisis intervention programs such as mental health, drug courts and veteran courts.

    Red flag laws, approved by the federal measure, are also known as Extreme Risk Protection Order laws. They allow courts to temporarily seize firearms from anyone believed to be a danger to themselves or others.

    The legislation encourages states to include juvenile records in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which would provide a more comprehensive background check for people between 18 and 21 who want to buy guns.

    It also requires more individuals who sell guns as primary sources of income to register as Federally Licensed Firearm Dealers, which are required to administer background checks before they sell a gun to someone.

    The law bars guns from anyone convicted of a domestic violence crime who has a “continuing serious relationship of a romantic or intimate nature.” The law, however, allows those convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence crimes to restore their gun rights after five years if they haven’t committed other crimes.

    On Thursday, Biden told reporters that he would work with Congress “to try to get rid of assault weapons.”

    Pressed on whether he would try to do so during the lame duck session, he said, “I’m going to do it whenever – I’ve got to make that assessment as soon as I get in and start counting the votes.”

    Congress returns next week with a jam-packed to-do list in the lame duck session, focused primarily on the must-pass government funding bill, as well as other priorities. But any action on gun legislation – particularly the assault weapons ban Biden has repeatedly called for – does not have the votes to pass. And the reality of a divided Congress in next year’s session makes it highly unlikely that anything will pass over the next two years.

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  • This week on

    This week on

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    “Face the Nation” Guest Lineup:

    • Dr. Anthony Fauci — President Biden’s chief medical adviser and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

    • Rep. Jim Clyburn — (D) South Carolina, majority whip

    • Gov. Jared Polis — (D) Colorado

    • Jeh Johnson — Former Department of Homeland Security secretary under former President Barack Obama

    • Michael Chertoff — Former Department of Homeland Security secretary under former President George W. Bush

    How to watch “Face the Nation”

    • Date: Sunday, November 27, 2022

    • TV: “Face the Nation” airs Sunday mornings on CBS. Click here for your local listings

    • Radio: Subscribe to “Face the Nation” from CBS Radio News to listen on-the-go

    • Free online stream: Watch the show on CBS’ streaming network at 10:30 a.m., 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. ET.

    With the latest news and analysis from Washington, don’t miss Margaret Brennan (@margbrennan) this Sunday on “Face the Nation” (@FaceTheNation). 

    And for the latest from America’s premier public affairs program, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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  • The nation’s hope for a Thanksgiving reprieve is shattered by another tragic spate of gun violence | CNN Politics

    The nation’s hope for a Thanksgiving reprieve is shattered by another tragic spate of gun violence | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    As the nation’s psyche was shattered by yet another mass shooting in Chesapeake, Virginia, the moments of terror recounted by Walmart employee Jessie Wilczewski – who survived a Tuesday night attack that killed at least six people – reflected the position of hopelessness where America once again finds itself when it comes to gun violence.

    “He had the gun up to my forehead,” Wilczewski told CNN’s Erica Hill Wednesday night on “Erin Burnett OutFront,” describing the moment when she encountered the suspect, who was identified by Walmart as an “overnight team lead” at the store. “He told me to go home.”

    “I got up real slow and I tried not to look at anybody on the ground,” Wilczewski said. She made her way through the double doors out to the egg aisle, gripping her bag and wondering if the suspect would shoot her in the back. She began running and didn’t stop until she reached her car.

    This is a year when President Joe Biden and congressional lawmakers managed to forge bipartisan compromise on a package of gun safety laws after years of inaction. States like Virginia and Colorado – where a gunman opened fire and killed five people over the weekend at an LBGTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs – have passed robust gun measures intended to prevent these events from occurring. Lawmakers from both parties have spent countless hours on the campaign trail vowing to address the nation’s mental health crisis. Things were supposed to be getting better.

    And yet, the nation is again trying to come to terms with another senseless tragedy.

    Wilczewski, who was in her fifth night on the job at Walmart, found herself in the break room with a gunman wondering if she was going to make it out alive, and then – when she did – wondering why her life had been spared when so many other innocent ones were not. It is a recurring question that Americans find themselves asking each time a mass shooting occurs.

    “I don’t know why he let me go and, yes, it’s bothering me really, really bad,” Wilczewski said. “It doesn’t stop replaying when you leave the scene. It doesn’t stop hurting as much. It doesn’t stop.”

    Those are sentiments that have been expressed by countless survivors of gun violence who have pressed lawmakers to do more in recent years as mass shootings continue unabated. Americans had looked forward to this Thanksgiving holiday as a reprieve at the end of a difficult year buffeted by the repercussions of the pandemic and fears about layoffs and a potential recession. But on a holiday intended as a reflection of the nation’s blessings, the incidents in Virginia and Colorado Springs have plunged the nation back into what seems like an endless debate over how to halt gun violence that never seems to yield a solution.

    There have been at least 609 mass shootings this year – incidents where more than four people were shot – compared with 638 shootings last year at this time and 690 shootings in 2021, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

    Investigators are still attempting to unravel the motives for the incidents in Virginia and Colorado, but the inexplicable killings in Chesapeake came less than two weeks after a fatal shooting of three football players at the University of Virginia earlier this month. The string of incidents points to the failure of existing laws to stop the carnage, as well as the deep disagreement between Democrats and Republicans about what additional gun safety measures are needed.

    The gulf between the two parties was exemplified Wednesday by the diverging responses from Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican who is being eyed as a potential 2024 White House contender, and Biden, who has long advocated for stricter gun measures.

    Youngkin said the hearts of Virginians were broken after “a horrendous senseless act of violence in Chesapeake” – calling it a “shocking stark reality” without delving into any detail about gun policy or how these events could be prevented.

    “We have had two horrific acts of violence in the commonwealth of Virginia in two weeks and that absolutely brings with it a sense of anger, a sense of fear, a sense of deep, deep grief,” the Virginia governor said.

    On Thanksgiving, Youngkin also asked his state in a tweet to “lift up in prayer” the families of those killed in the mass shootings.

    Biden, by contrast, called for “greater action” on gun reform, following his call for reinstating an assault weapons ban after the Colorado Springs shooting – a proposal that has little chance of gaining traction in a divided Congress, with Republicans set to take over the House in January.

    Biden noted in a statement that Thanksgiving is normally a holiday that “brings us together as Americans and as families, when we hug our loved ones and count our blessings. But because of yet another horrific and senseless act of violence, there are now even more tables across the country that will have empty seats this Thanksgiving. There are now more families who know the worst kind of loss and pain imaginable.”

    “This year, I signed the most significant gun reform in a generation, but that is not nearly enough. We must take greater action,” Biden said.

    On Thanksgiving, Biden told reporters that he would work with Congress to”try to get rid of assault weapons.”

    When pressed whether he would try to do so during the lame duck session, he said, “I’ve got to make that assessment as soon as I get in and start counting the votes.”

    Congress returns next week with a jam-packed to-do list in the lame duck session, focused primarily on the must-pass government funding bill, as well as other priorities. But any action on gun legislation – particularly the assault weapons ban Biden has repeatedly called for – does not have the votes to pass. And the reality of a divided Congress in next year’s session makes it highly unlikely that anything will pass over the next two years.

    Charles Ramsey, a former Washington, DC, police chief and a CNN law enforcement analyst, noted that the police response times in both the Chesapeake, Virginia, and the Colorado shootings were very fast – the first officer reached the scene within two minutes at the Walmart, according to the City of Chesapeake. Yet police were unable to stop the loss of life, including the death of a 16-year-old boy in the Walmart shooting who is not being identified because he is a minor.

    “It’s going to happen again; it’s not going to stop,” Ramsey said on CNN’s “The Situation Room” on Wednesday. “We’ll be talking about something else next week – I mean, if we just have short memories, we don’t focus and we don’t take the steps we need to take as a society to stop it.”

    Steve Moore, a retired FBI supervisory special agent who is a CNN law enforcement contributor, said it would be more effective for lawmakers to focus their efforts on solving the nation’s mental health problems, rather than pursuing an assault weapons ban that has little chance of passage – in part because there are already so many of those weapons in the hands of private individuals.

    “It’s kind of late to close the barn door,” Moore said on CNN’s “Newsroom” on Wednesday. “I’m not saying we shouldn’t, but we have to find a way to keep them out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them, and in this Colorado situation, there was more than enough – more than enough evidence to use a red flag law to keep weapons away from him.”

    The portraits emerging of both suspects were those of troubled individuals whose behavior raised questions for those who encountered them.

    Anderson Lee Aldrich, the alleged Colorado gunman who was seen on video from a Colorado courtroom on Wednesday, was bullied as a youth and appeared to have had a difficult relationship with their mother, who faced a string of arrests and related mental health evaluations, according to reporting from the CNN Investigates team. The shooter identifies as non-binary and goes by the pronouns they and them, according to court documents.

    Aldrich’s mother called police last year to report that Aldrich had threatened to harm her with bombs and other weapons – but no charges were filed in that case, which was subsequently sealed.

    Co-workers said the gunman who opened fire at Walmart, who was identified by the City of Chesapeake as 31-year-old Andre Bing, had displayed odd and threatening behavior.

    Briana Tyler, a Walmart employee, told CNN’s Brian Todd that the gunman “just had a blank stare on his face” during the shooting.

    “He just literally just looked around the room and just shot and there were people just dropping to the floor,” Tyler said. “Everybody was screaming, gasping. And yeah, he just walked away after that and just continued throughout the store and just kept shooting.”

    Bing was armed with a handgun and several magazines, according to the city of Chesapeake, and died from what is believed to have been a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

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  • CBS Weekend News, November 20, 2022

    CBS Weekend News, November 20, 2022

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    CBS Weekend News, November 20, 2022 – CBS News


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    Mass shooting at Colorado LGBTQ nightclub leaves 5 dead; Marine biologists capture audio recordings of coral to analyze reef health

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  • Mass shooting at Colorado LGBTQ nightclub leaves 5 dead

    Mass shooting at Colorado LGBTQ nightclub leaves 5 dead

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    Mass shooting at Colorado LGBTQ nightclub leaves 5 dead – CBS News


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    A man opened fire at Colorado’s Club Q, a popular LGBTQ community nightclub, killing at least five and injuring 25 others. A suspect is in custody and investigators are working to determine a motive. Janet Shamlian has more.

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  • Polling shows that most voters say economic concerns are top of mind | CNN Politics

    Polling shows that most voters say economic concerns are top of mind | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Economic issues remain a top concern for most voters ahead of the 2022 election, a review of recent polling finds, with many also worried about America’s democratic process itself. But voters’ highest priorities are divided along partisan lines, with abortion rights continuing to resonate strongly for Democrats, while Republicans remain sharply focused on inflation. Concerns about other issues, from gun policy to immigration, are often similarly polarized. And some topics that drew attention in previous elections – like the coronavirus pandemic – are relatively muted this year.

    Recent polling provides a good general sense of which issues have become the focal points of this year’s elections, and for whom. But what voters truly consider important, and how those concerns influence their decisions, is too complicated to be fully captured in a single poll question.

    As we’ve noted previously, voters tend to say they care about a lot of different issues. That, however, doesn’t necessarily mean any of those issues will be decisive in a specific race, either by motivating people to vote when they wouldn’t have otherwise, or by convincing them to vote for a different candidate than they would have otherwise.

    In practice, few campaigns revolve around a single issue, with voters left to weigh the merits of entire platforms. In a recent NBC News poll, for instance, voters were close to evenly split on whether they placed more importance on “a candidate’s position on crime, the situation at the border, and addressing the cost of living by cutting government spending,” or on “a candidate’s position on abortion, threats to democracy and voting, and addressing the cost of living by raising taxes on corporations.”

    And in some cases, voters’ primary focus may not be on the issues at all. In CNN’s recent polls of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, a majority of likely voters in both states said that candidates’ character or party control of the Senate played more of a role in their decision-making than did issue positions.

    Here’s a recap of what the polls are showing now.

    CNN’s most recent polls have examined voters’ priorities from two different angles. A survey conducted in September and early October asked voters to rate a series of different issues on a scale from “extremely important” to “not that important,” while a second survey conducted in late October asked them to select a single top priority. On both measures, the economy emerged as a top concern.

    In the first poll, nine in 10 registered voters said they considered the economy at least very important to their vote for Congress, with 59% calling it extremely important. And in the second poll, 51% of likely voters said the economy and inflation would be most important to them in their congressional vote, far outpacing any other issue.

    While economic concerns rank highly among both parties, the CNN surveys found a pronounced partisan divide. Among registered voters in the first poll, 75% of Republicans called the economy extremely important to their vote, compared with about half of independents (51%) and Democrats (50%). And in the second, 71% of Republican likely voters called the economy and inflation their top issue, while 53% of independents and 27% of Democrats said the same.

    The Republican Party also holds an advantage on economic issues. In a Fox News poll, voters said by a 13-point margin that the GOP would do a better job than the Democratic Party of handling inflation and higher prices. And in a mid-October CBS News/YouGov poll, voters were nine points likelier to say that GOP control of Congress would help the economy than to say it would hurt. Voters also said, by a 19-point margin, that Democratic economic policies during the last two years in Congress have hurt, rather than helped.

    At the same time, voters express concerns beyond pocketbook issues. In that CBS News/YouGov survey, 85% of likely voters said that their “personal rights and freedoms” will be very important in their 2022 vote, while a smaller 68% said the same of their “own household’s finances.”

    Following the Supreme Court’s overturn of Roe v. Wade, abortion has taken far higher precedence in this midterm than in recent past elections, particularly among Democrats.

    In CNN’s September/October poll, nearly three-quarters (72%) of registered voters called abortion at least very important to their vote, with 52% calling it extremely important. The share of voters calling abortion extremely important to their vote varied along both partisan and gender lines: 72% of Democratic women, 54% of independent women and 53% of Republican women rated it that highly, compared with fewer than half of men of any partisan affiliation.

    And in CNN’s latest poll, 15% of likely voters called abortion their top issue, placing it second – by some distance – to economic concerns. Democratic voters were about split between the two issues, with 27% prioritizing the economy and inflation, and 29% placing more importance on abortion.

    Abortion policy does stand out in some surveys as particularly likely to serve as a litmus test. In the Fox News poll, 21% of voters named abortion or women’s rights as an issue “so important to them that they must agree with a candidate on it, or they will NOT vote for them,” outpacing issues including the economy and immigration, and far greater than the 7% who named abortion when asked the same question in a 2019 survey.

    To the extent that abortion serves as a voting issue, it’s more of a factor for abortion rights supporters – something that was not necessarily the case in the past. In the mid-October CBS News/YouGov poll, just 17% of likely voters say they view their congressional vote this year as a vote to oppose abortion rights, while 45% say it’s in support of abortion rights, with the rest saying abortion is not a factor. In a recent AP-NORC survey, the Democrats hold a 23-point lead over Republicans on trust to handle abortion policy, their best showing across a range of issues; in a recent NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, the Democrats lead by 12 points.

    Immigration’s role as an electoral issue has grown increasingly polarized. In CNN’s September/October poll, 44% of registered voters called immigration extremely important, on par with concerns ahead of the 2018 midterms. But Republican voters were 35 percentage points likelier than Democratic voters to call immigration extremely important, up from a 17-point gap four years ago.

    That partisan dynamic also plays out in which party is more trusted to handle immigration-related topics: In the NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, voters say by a 14-point margin that the GOP would do a better job than the Democratic Party on dealing with immigration. In the Fox poll, voters say by a 21-point margin that they trust the GOP over the Democrats to handle border security, making it by far the Republicans’ strongest issue by that metric.

    But with Republicans overwhelmingly focused on the economy, immigration isn’t at the forefront of many voters’ minds this year. In the latest CNN poll, just 9% of Republican voters and 4% of Democratic voters called it their top issue.

    This year also finds voters concerned about the electoral process. An 85% majority of registered voters in CNN’s September/October poll called “voting rights and election integrity” at least very important to their vote, with 61% calling those topics extremely important. Both 70% of Democrats and 64% of Republicans said the issue was extremely important, in comparison with a smaller 47% of independents. Seven in 10 registered voters in a Pew Research survey out in October said that “the future of democracy in the country” will be very important to their vote this year, with 58% saying the same about “policies about how elections and voting work in the country” – in each case, that included a majority of both voters supporting Democratic candidates and those supporting Republicans.

    But levels of concern can vary depending on how the issue is framed. In the NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, 28% of registered voters, including 42% of Democrats, picked “preserving democracy” as the issue that’s top of mind for them in this election. In CNN’s latest poll, just 9% of likely voters, including 15% of Democrats, called “voting rights and election integrity” their top issue.

    The driving factors behind voters’ worries also vary significantly. In the Fox News poll, 37% of voters said they were extremely concerned about candidates and their supporters not accepting election results, while 32% were extremely concerned about voter fraud. In an October New York Times/Siena poll, about three-quarters (74%) of likely voters said they believed American democracy was currently under threat, but in a follow-up questioning asking them to summarize the threat they were envisioning, they diverged. Some cited specific politicians, most notably former President Donald Trump (10%) or President Joe Biden (6%), while others offered broad concerns about corruption or the government as a whole (13%).

    In CNN’s September/October poll, 43% of registered voters said that the phrase “working to protect democracy” better described the Democratic congressional candidates in their area, while 36% thought it better fit their local Republican candidates. In the NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, voters said, 44% to 37%, that the Democratic Party would do a better job than the Republican Party of “dealing with preserving democracy.”

    Most voters in this year’s elections express concerns about guns and violent crime, but relatively few voters call either their top issue. There’s also a notable partisan divide depending on the framing, with Republicans more concerned about crime, and Democrats more attentive to gun policy.

    In a late October CBS News/YouGov poll, 65% of likely voters said crime would be very important to their vote, and 62% said gun policy would be very important. An 85% majority of Republican likely voters, compared with 47% of Democratic likely voters, called crime very important. By contrast, while 74% of Democratic likely voters called gun policy very important, a smaller 53% of Republican likely voters said the same.

    According to Gallup, voters’ prioritization of gun policy spiked this summer following a wave of high-profile mass shootings, before fading as a concern in the fall; the Pew Research Center polling found less significant changes in voters’ priorities over that time.

    Neither issue is currently widespread as a top concern. In the latest CNN poll, 7% of likely voters called gun policy their top issue, and just 3% said the same of crime.

    In an October Wall Street Journal poll, 43% of registered voters said they trusted Republicans in Congress more to handle reducing crime, compared with the 29% who said they trust Democrats in Congress. Voters who were instead asked about reducing “gun violence” gave Democrats a 7-point edge.

    The polling also reveals a few issues that aren’t receiving similarly widespread public attention this year. Among them is coronavirus, which just 27% of likely voters in the latest CBS News/YouGov poll called very important to their vote, rising to 44% among Democrats. Despite this year’s major climate change legislation, that issue ranked last among the seven issues CNN asked about in the September/October poll, with only 38% of registered voters calling it extremely important to their vote – although the issue had far more resonance among Democrats (60% of whom called it extremely important) and voters younger than age 35 (46% of whom did). And relatively few in the electorate are substantially focused on the war in Ukraine: in Fox’s polling, just 34% of registered voters said they were extremely concerned about Russia’s invasion of the country.

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  • New York Democrats are bracing for stunning Election Day losses, and they already have a fall guy | CNN Politics

    New York Democrats are bracing for stunning Election Day losses, and they already have a fall guy | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Democratic officials and strategists in New York tell CNN they are bracing for what could be stunning losses in the governor’s race and in contests for as many as four US House seats largely in the suburbs.

    With crime dominating the headlines and the airwaves, multiple Democrats watching these races closely are pointing to New York City Mayor Eric Adams, accusing him of overhyping the issue and playing into right-wing narratives in ways that may have helped set the party up for disaster on Tuesday.

    “He was an essential validator in the city to make their attacks seem more legit and less partisan,” said one Democratic operative working on campaigns in New York, who asked not to be named so as not to compromise current clients.

    Other Democrats argue this has it backwards. While they accuse Republicans of political ploys they call cynical, racist and taking advantage of a situation fostered by the pandemic, they insist candidates would be in better shape if they had followed Adams’ lead in speaking to the fear and frustration voters feel.

    But going into Election Day, New York Democrats worry about a double whammy from how they’ve struggled to address crime: Swing voters turned off by Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and suburban House Democrats go vote Republican, while base Democrats in the city, dejected by talk of how awful things are, don’t turn out at all.

    “Crime today has been compared to the ’80s and the ‘90s, and the fact of the matter is that crime is lower now than it was then,” said Crystal Hudson, a Democratic New York City councilwoman from Brooklyn. “That’s emboldened the right to use crime as their narrative and put Democrats in a bad spot for these midterm elections.”

    Rep. Lee Zeldin, Hochul’s GOP opponent, has taken to regularly invoking Adams on the campaign trail, to the point that some Democratic operatives have grimly joked that Zeldin could just run clips of Adams talking about crime as his closing ads.

    There are national ripples: Democratic groups like the Democratic Governors Association are moving in millions of dollars to prop up Hochul in a deep-blue state instead of spending that on tight races elsewhere, with Vice President Kamala Harris flying in on Thursday in one of her own last campaign stops and President Joe Biden heading to Westchester County, north of New York City, on Sunday to rally with the governor. Republicans, meanwhile, are seizing opportunities to pad a potential House majority by targeting seats that Democrats had been counting on as backstops.

    Adams was elected mayor last year on a tough-talking, tough-on-crime message, then embraced as such a hero among many Democratic leaders that rumors circulated he might be eyeing a 2024 presidential run himself. In office, he’s often talked about the bad shape the city is in, including citing statistics he says demonstrate connections between the rise in crime and a 2019 progressive-led state law change that barred judges from setting cash bail for all but the most serious offenses.

    Multiple top Democrats argue that Adams could have used his credibility to buttress Hochul – whom allies point out is in a tricky political spot talking about crime in New York City as a 64-year-old White woman from Western New York – instead of loudly pushing the governor to call a special session of the legislature to roll back more of the new bail laws. Hochul also seemed to be caught surprised by the attacks and unsure of how to defend her record, with several elected officials and operatives saying she appeared to be balancing between different factions of the party rather than setting a firm agenda of her own.

    That’s fed an increasingly tense relationship in the campaign’s final weeks, though Adams recently appeared with Hochul at both an official government event announcing she’d allocate state money to pay for overtime for police patrolling the subways and at a campaign stop in Queens as she seeks to prove to voters that she’s taking crime seriously. Adams has also shifted to blaming the media for sensationalizing the crime problem.

    Appearing on “CNN This Morning” on Friday, Hochul said there’s never been a governor and mayor in New York with as strong a relationship as the one she has with Adams. While she acknowledged that violent crime is up and that the issue was rooted in voters’ sincere fears, she said Republicans were “not having a conversation about real solutions.”

    She cited her record of getting more cops and cameras on the street and help for the mentally ill, and Zeldin’s opposition to gun control.

    “Crime has been a problem,” she said. “I understand that. Let’s talk about real answers and not just give everybody all these platitudes.”

    Rep. Kathleen Rice, a retiring moderate Democrat from just outside New York City and a former Nassau County district attorney, said at first she was encouraged by Adams. As a former police officer, he understands the problem, she said, but “the general consensus is that he hasn’t shown he has focused on the issue enough for it to have made a difference.”

    Rice said she’s heard from constituents from just outside the city who are turned off by reports of Adams spending late nights at pricey private restaurants juxtaposed with stories about murders on the subways and other horrific incidents.

    “People want to feel safe first before they go to a club,” Rice said.

    Rice’s seat is one of two Democratic-held seats on Long Island now seen at risk. Democrats are also in danger of losing two seats north of New York City – one held by Rep. Pat Ryan and the Lower Hudson Valley district of Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, the chair of Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

    “It is an issue for voters, but it is not because they have personally experienced crime in the Hudson Valley or their neighbors are talking about crimes committed in the Hudson Valley as much as it is the narrative pushed by the industrial fear machine at Fox and the New York Post describing New York City as a lawless hellscape,” Maloney said in an interview. “That, understandably, is raising concerns among suburbanites.”

    Months ago, Maloney warned other House Democrats, in conversations and in a March memo sent around by the DCCC and obtained by CNN, to be ready to respond and rebut attacks for being weak on crime. The guidance started with telling candidates to be firmly against calls to “defund the police” but also to talk about the more than $8 billion Democratic lawmakers had secured for law enforcement in bills such as the American Rescue Plan.

    Maloney pointed to his votes for legislation to fund programs for body cameras and plate reading technology for local police departments in his district, as well as for the gun control measures enacted over the summer.

    He also stood by a remark he made last July – catching several Democratic operatives’ attention at the time – when he stood with Adams on the steps of the Democratic National Committee headquarters and called him “a rock on which I can build a church.”

    “What I meant is that I like his combination of respecting good policing and understanding the need for public safety with a genuine passion for justice and fairness in our system,” Maloney said in an interview. “He may not get everything right, and it may not be everything I would do. But he recognizes that we’re not where we should be. And I support his efforts to clean it up.”

    Others have not been convinced.

    “The concern over crime is real. It is acute,” said Rep. Mondaire Jones, a progressive Democrat who lost a primary to represent parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn after Maloney opted to run for a redrawn suburban seat that also included parts of Jones’ district. “But once this election is over, I hope people have an honest conversation about how Democrats like Eric Adams have validated a hysteria over crime that is uninformed and that has been debunked.”

    Conversations about crime in New York are bound up in the debate over reforming the bail laws, and in well-worn internal political power struggles among officials. In phone calls and meetings at the beginning of the year, Adams urged top officials in Albany to change the laws, warning them that crime would likely be a major political liability in the fall, according to people familiar with the conversations.

    Legislative leaders have already passed two partial rollbacks, including one supported by Hochul earlier this year. But they have resisted doing more, despite warnings from suburban members.

    Adams has charged that the “insane broken system” of bail laws now puts criminals back on the street who then tend to get back to committing crimes. According to figures from the New York Police Department, in the first half of the year, 211 people were arrested at least three times for burglary and 899 people were arrested at least three times for shoplifting, increases of 142.5 percent and 88.9 percent, respectively, over the same period in 2017. The mayor’s office also pointed to statistics that show double-digit jumps in recidivism for felony, grand larceny and auto theft.

    Still, crime statistics don’t tell as simple a story as what shows up in political ads. Suburban counties are reporting safer streets and communities – a report in February by the Westchester County executive from just north of New York City, for example, showed a 26.5 percent drop in its crime index.

    Murders and shootings are down in the city from last year, but rape, robbery, felony assault, burglary, grand larceny and auto theft are all up, by over 30 percent from 2021 in several categories, according to New York Police Department data.

    But those are the stories which play on the same local news – and campaign ads during the breaks – that reach into the homes of suburban voters who may not have been crime victims themselves, or even spent much time in the city for years. And that’s left Hochul and Democratic House and state legislative nominees leaching support in Long Island, Westchester and the northern New York City suburbs.

    “A lot of the story that’s being told is of New York City crime,” said Democrat Bridget Fleming, a former prosecutor who’s been endorsed by police unions in the House race for much of the area Zeldin currently represents on Long Island. “We’re making sure law enforcement is supported – and other than gun crime, we’re keeping crime down here.”

    Evan Roth Smith, a pollster working on several local races, said Adams “may be a drag on Democratic trustworthiness on crime.”

    But Adams spokesman Maxwell Young said the mayor’s job isn’t to put a rosy spin on things in a way that could benefit Hochul’s or any of the other candidates’ campaigns.

    “We can’t, and won’t, ignore the reality,” Young said. “Those who claim we aren’t making progress or, conversely, that we’ve been crying wolf aren’t paying attention and have no idea what they’re talking about.”

    Evan Thies, a top Adams political adviser, said he wished other Democrats had taken lessons from the mayor’s win last year.

    “You have to convince people you’re worthy to lead by following their lead on issues and meeting their urgency, not by disagreeing with them,” Thies said. “The mayor became mayor by listening to and advocating for people in high-crime communities – he’s not going to abandon them now.”

    Democratic Rep. Adriano Espaillat, whose district covers Upper Manhattan and parts of the Bronx, points to how many systemic, as well as larger societal and economic issues, are involved in making a real impact on crime – and that Adams has only been on the job for 10 months.

    “He’s really trying hard. This is not easy,” Espaillat said. “It’s going to take some time.”

    Biden had his own bromance with Adams, from hosting him in the White House weeks after he won his mayoral primary to offering him half of his peanut butter-and-jelly sandwich as they rode together in the limo in February during a presidential visit to New York to talk about gun violence. White House chief of staff Ron Klain praised Adams for tapping into the same coalition of pragmatic, working-class and African American voters, which won Biden the 2020 Democratic nomination.

    Through an aide, Klain did not respond to questions about how he and the president view Adams these days.

    But what many Democrats are left with as they approach the end of campaigning in New York is a potentially devastating example of failing again to break a decades-long paradigm of Republicans capitalizing on calling them soft on crime.

    “The paradox here is: Crime is high in some of the reddest parts of the country where they have the weakest gun safety laws. We needed to tell that story and done so loudly to neutralize the issue. You can’t sit idly by and wish it away,” said Charlie Kelly, a political adviser to former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s gun safety group Everytown and former executive director for the Democratic-aligned House Majority PAC.

    In New York and beyond, some Democrats are already hoping for a post-election recognition and realignment that pushes their party both toward a tougher attack on Republicans and a more forceful deflection of their own left flank.

    “We can’t dismiss people’s concerns,” said Justin Brannan, a New York City councilman from a moderate district in Brooklyn. “It’s another thing to be a Republican, to say, ‘If you go outside, you’re going to die.’”

    “It’s both true that crime is down from the 1990s and that it has been increasing and that people feel uncomfortable,” said Mark Levine, the Manhattan borough president. “Democrats have to be able to talk about that and offer real solutions.”

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  • My Child Brought Home This Horrifying Pamphlet From School. I’m Furious — And You Should Be Too.

    My Child Brought Home This Horrifying Pamphlet From School. I’m Furious — And You Should Be Too.

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    If you’re a woman or a parent or really a human of any stripe in America, there’s a lot to rage about lately. Probably many of us have learned to modulate our anger, because being in a constant state of outrage is detrimental to our health.

    Today my rage is crushing and all-consuming and feels like lava coursing through my veins. My 7-year-old brought home a pamphlet from school earlier this week titled “National Child Identification Program.”

    She handed it to me with a bewildered look on her face and opened it to show me a page with slots for her fingerprints, one box for each finger. She said she supposed we needed to fill this out.

    My mind reeled as I searched for the appropriate reply. I told her we’d look at it later, and she trotted off. And then I opened the pamphlet and saw two simple sketches of a naked, genderless child, labeled “FRONT” and “BACK.”

    I choked up as I realized what I was meant to do. I was to label the figure with any birthmarks, moles, scars, or other distinguishing feature on my child, so that her body could be identified, if, for example, her face was blown off by an assault weapon.

    As a parent of three kids ― one each in elementary, middle and high school ― I rolled my eyes when our large, urban school district required students carry clear backpacks this school year. I live in Texas and the horror of the Uvalde school shooting was top of mind. I wondered if anyone really believed clear backpacks were making anyone safer. I breathed a sigh of relief that my youngest didn’t understand why the clear backpack edict was made.

    There are a thousand ways for parents to meet this moment with young kids. I suppose we’re embracing willful ignorance for our 7-year-old. She didn’t comprehend this pamphlet or what it meant, any more than she comprehended the clear backpacks. She has a vague understanding of bad guys sometimes doing bad things in the world, even at schools. I can’t find the words to explain why the adults around her won’t do simple things to keep her safe at school. It’s disgraceful and I’m ashamed of our elected leaders, who refuse to put the lives of small children ahead of a well-financed gun lobby. I cannot summon a rational explanation, even on a second-grade level, for the current state of affairs.

    The pamphlet sent to the author by her daughter’s school.

    Courtesy of Joanna McFarland Owusu

    My husband and I can’t shield our teenagers from headlines, and they fully grasp the reason for active shooter drills. The best we can muster in broaching this topic with them is that the grown-ups in our country have failed them. Despite decades of talk about commonsense gun reform, our country has only made modest policy changes around the margins. We tell them that it shouldn’t be this way ― and that it isn’t this way in other countries. Teenagers whose brains aren’t fully developed and can’t yet buy alcohol aren’t able to acquire a gun license in other countries. Guns, and specifically assault weapons, aren’t easily accessible in other countries, and gun deaths in other countries are a fraction of gun deaths in the U.S.

    We all seem to maintain some emotional detachment from this topic. I remind them that, statistically, they’re unlikely to experience a shooting at their schools. We tell ourselves this so we can sleep at night.

    So, here is my earnest, desperate plea to every person who has a child, or knows a child, or believes children have a right to exist to carry on the human race ― future payers into the Social Security system, if nothing more.

    If you live in Texas like me, or any other state, for that matter, where far-right Republicans have made a mockery of your child’s safety, vote for the candidate with a reasonable stance on gun rights. No one’s coming for your hunting rifles. Vote for a return to some semblance of sanity on the topic of gun control (among others).

    Because I refuse to believe or accept that clear backpacks and active shooter drills and law enforcement programs to help identify children’s disfigured or dismembered bodies are really the best we can do ― the best we can offer our kids.

    My rage knows no bounds, and I’ll carry it with me to the ballot box.

    Joanna McFarland Owusu is a writer and editor based in Dallas. Joanna was a federal government analyst in a former life, and is a longtime policy stan and news junkie. When she isn’t reading the news or writing, Joanna spends most of her time Uber-momming two teenage sons and an elementary-aged daughter around town.

    Do you have a compelling personal story you’d like to see published on HuffPost? Find out what we’re looking for here and send us a pitch.


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  • Uvalde parents outraged over Texas DPS director’s refusal to resign

    Uvalde parents outraged over Texas DPS director’s refusal to resign

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    Uvalde parents outraged over Texas DPS director’s refusal to resign – CBS News


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    Despite outrage on behalf of parents of Uvalde shooting victims, Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw is ignoring calls to resign. Janet Shamlian reports.

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  • St. Louis school shooter was flagged in FBI background check but was still able to legally purchase a gun, police say | CNN

    St. Louis school shooter was flagged in FBI background check but was still able to legally purchase a gun, police say | CNN

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     — 

    The gunman who killed two people and wounded several others in a school shooting in St. Louis, Missouri, on Monday was flagged by an FBI background check but was still able to purchase the AR-15-style rifle he used in the attack from a private seller, police said.

    When 19-year-old Orlando Harris first tried to purchase a gun from a licensed dealer, the background check blocked the sale, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Sgt. Charles Wall said Thursday. But Harris could still legally buy the rifle from a private individual who had bought the firearm from a licensed dealer in 2020, Wall said.

    Harris’s family had been worried about his mental health, so when his mother found the rifle in their home, the family contacted police, authorities said.

    Missouri does not have a so-called “red flag law” which would allow police to confiscate a person’s gun if they are at risk of causing harm to themselves or others. So St. Louis police arranged for Harris’s rifle to be given to “a third party known to the family” so it could be stored outside the home, police said in a statement to CNN affiliate KMOV.

    Yet somehow, when the teen forced his way into the Central Visual and Performing Arts High School on Monday morning, he had the rifle back in his hands.

    Armed with the high-powered firearm and an arsenal of over 600 rounds of ammunition and more than a dozen high-capacity magazines, the shooter opened fire into the hallways of the school, which he had just graduated from last year.

    As students and teachers scrambled to lock and barricade doors and take shelter, he continued his rampage, fatally shooting talented student Alexandria Bell, 15, and beloved teacher Jean Kuczka, 61, and wounding multiple others.

    Within minutes, officers had arrived at the school and quickly engaged the shooter in a gunfight, according to St. Louis Police Commissioner Michael Sack. Harris was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.

    Police are working to determine how the shooter regained possession of the rifle, Sack said Wednesday.

    School officials were given access to the bullet-riddled building on Tuesday, but it could be weeks or months before students are brought back to the Central Visual and Performing Arts and Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience high schools, which share a campus, St. Louis Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Kelvin Adams said Tuesday.

    “Obviously with the kinds of things that happened in our building, we need to make sure that the building is ready to receive students and staff and the community, as well,” Adams said. He noted counseling services are available for students and staff.

    The attack on the St. Louis high school is at least the 67th shooting to happen on American school grounds this year, marking another devastating moment in the growing reality of gun violence against students and educators.

    Witnesses of the shooting describe a horrifying scene in which the school learned there was an active shooter in the building through a coded message announced over the intercom.

    As soon as history teacher Kristie Faulstich heard the announcement, she knew what to do.

    “I instantly but calmly went to lock my door and turn off the lights. I then turned to my kids and told everyone to get in the corner,” she said.

    Teachers and law enforcement have applauded how students conducted themselves during the attack.

    “We’ve had teenagers and athletes – they don’t always listen – but on Monday they sure did,” Sack said Wednesday. “They did what their teachers instructed them to do, they do what the officers instructed them to do, despite the fact that you can see that many of them were traumatized. You can see their faces, you can read in their eyes.”

    “I absolutely commend my students for their response,” Faulstich said. “Even in the moments when they were hearing gunfire going on all around they stood quiet and I know they did it to keep each other safe.”

    Several students escaped the building by leaping from windows, students and teachers have said.

    There were seven security personnel at the school when the gunman arrived, but he did not enter the building through a checkpoint where security guards were stationed and instead had to force his way in, according to DeAndre Davis, director of safety and security for Saint Louis Public Schools.

    Police officers arrived at the school within four minutes of the active shooter being reported, according to Sack, who has repeatedly credited swift law enforcement response, locked doors and training for preventing further deaths.

    “The fact that it takes this level of response to stop a shooting like this because people have access to these weapons of war and can bring them into our schools can never be normal,” said St. Louis Board of Education President Matt Davis.

    The school district has been working to add gun safety to the curriculum, Superintendent Adams said at a press conference Tuesday.

    “The gun safety initiative, quite frankly, was a plan put together to try to address the kind of issues that happen outside of our school district, outside of our school buildings, in terms of the number of students who have been shot in the city of St. Louis, and that die, quite frankly, as a result of incidents that happened outside of the school environment,” Adams said.

    “Never did I think I would be standing here today having a conversation about a staff (member) and a student” being shot, Adams said, pausing to keep composure as his voice began to break.

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