guns

Lela Ali was in the Legislative Building last Wednesday as the organization she is part of, Muslim Women For, works to oppose a bill that would require sheriffs to cooperate with federal immigration officials.  She also happened  to be sitting in the House gallery that day as lawmakers approved a bill along party lines that takes responsibility for the state’s three schools for deaf and blind students away from the State Board of Education and gives it to local boards of trustees. 

GOP lawmakers have passed similar legislation expanding gun access in past legislative sessions. This time, they might have the votes to override the governor’s veto. Hours after three students at Michigan State University were killed by a man who ultimately turned his gun on himself, North Carolina Republicans unveiled several bills Tuesday aimed at making it easier for people to acquire and wield firearms.

Why the weapon of choice for so many mass murderers is not what a lot of its defenders would have us believe Last month, after the horrific mass shootings at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, Monday Numbers took a look at the AR-15 style semi-automatic assault rifles favored by mass shooters in America.

A few months ago, I was pulled over by a Springfield, Illinois-area police officer for a minor traffic violation. He shined a flashlight in my car and said, “Mr. Reeder, are you carrying?” I replied that no, my firearm was home locked up in a safe.

WASHINGTON — U.S. House members wrestled Tuesday with how to address a spike in travelers trying to bring firearms through airport screening points in carry-on bags. During 2021, Transportation Security Administration officers detected 5,972 firearms at checkpoints, 86 percent of which were loaded. That number was up from the previous record of 4,432 discovered in 2019. ...

It's been more than 50 years since the iconic slogan "Fly the Friendly Skies" was first used to advertise the appeal and allure of airline travel. But those skies seem a bit less friendly these days with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) highlighting last week that its officers at North Carolina airports discovered a total of 254 firearms in travelers’ carry-on luggage last year.

As Policy Watch reported earlier this month, the North Carolina Senate passed a bill (HB 398) that would repeal the state’s pistol purchase permit requirement. Though the bill is likely to see a veto from Gov. Roy Cooper, elimination of the state permit requirement has for years been a conservative goal that has at times divided Republicans and law enforcement in the state.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has promised a crackdown on so-called “ghost guns,” and during a U.S. Senate hearing Tuesday, law enforcement officials from Pennsylvania and Maryland described how an exponential increase in those firearms — which are easily assembled from kits and not subject to federal gun laws — has expanded the workload of their agencies.