Police White supremacist gangs
Julia Felton, “Pittsburgh City Council considers new stop-and-frisk policy for police,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, June 1, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-city-council-considers-new-stop-and-frisk-policy-for-police/
Gun nuttery
United States
Molly Jong-Fast begins, correctly in my view, by pointing to a need for the Democrats to actually deliver results. But the larger part of her call to action is yet another show vote,[1] in which the Democrats can (mostly) vote yes, point fingers at Joe Manchin and Kyrstin Sinema, point fingers at the Republicans, and rest completely assured that they will have accomplished absolutely nothing. Which, to state the obvious, is not what I would call delivering results.
She also suggests that the state of New York should do[2] what Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh suggested liberal states might do if Texas’ S.B. 8, enabling private parties to sue to enforce an anti-abortion policy that the state couldn’t enforce itself, due to Roe v. Wade, is upheld,[3] which was subsequently what Gavin Newsom said California should do,[4] that is, pass a law enabling private parties to sue to enforce an anti-gun policy that the states can’t enforce themselves.[5] My understanding is that a ruling on the Texas law is still pending at the Supreme Court; my expectation remains that the Court will rule to overturn Roe v. Wade in the Mississippi case but reject the Texas approach for the very reason that Kavanaugh raised, which of course would eviscerate Jong-Fast’s and Newsom’s suggestions.
And yes, all these people should be crediting Kavanaugh for the idea. Jong-Fast should, in addition, be crediting Newsom.
Jon Allsop, “A massacre in Uvalde, and the ‘numbing script’ of gun-violence coverage,” Columbia Journalism Review, May 25, 2022, https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/uvalde_shooting_media.php
Kevin Rector, “U.S. gun laws are getting looser, not stronger, despite more mass shootings,” Los Angeles Times, May 25, 2022, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-05-25/mass-shootings-renew-calls-for-stricter-gun-laws-experts-say-the-opposite-is-coming
David Siders, “‘It’s straight out of a playbook’: At NRA convention, conspiracy theories abound,” Politico, May 27, 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/27/nra-convention-uvalde-shooting-00035842
Laurel Wamsley, “The U.S. is uniquely terrible at protecting children from gun violence,” National Public Radio, May 28, 2022, https://www.npr.org/2022/05/28/1101307932/texas-shooting-uvalde-gun-violence-children-teenagers
Shawn Hubler, “California Has America’s Toughest Gun Laws, and They Work,” New York Times, May 31, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/31/us/california-gun-laws.html
Molly Jong-Fast, “Democrats Should ‘Do Something’ the Way the GOP Does Things,” Atlantic, June 1, 2022, https://newsletters.theatlantic.com/wait-what/62977fdd66d6b500218ffc11/biden-democrats-midterm-elections-gun-laws-uvalde/
- [1]Molly Jong-Fast, “Democrats Should ‘Do Something’ the Way the GOP Does Things,” Atlantic, June 1, 2022, https://newsletters.theatlantic.com/wait-what/62977fdd66d6b500218ffc11/biden-democrats-midterm-elections-gun-laws-uvalde/↩
- [2]Molly Jong-Fast, “Democrats Should ‘Do Something’ the Way the GOP Does Things,” Atlantic, June 1, 2022, https://newsletters.theatlantic.com/wait-what/62977fdd66d6b500218ffc11/biden-democrats-midterm-elections-gun-laws-uvalde/↩
- [3]John Bowden, “Kavanaugh flags a major catch in Texas anti-abortion law for conservative gun owners,” Independent, November 2, 2021, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/kavanaugh-supreme-court-texas-abortion-b1949460.html; Irin Carmon, “The Texas Abortion Ban Could Lose at the Supreme Court,” New York, November 1, 2021, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/11/texas-abortion-ban-could-lose-at-the-supreme-court.html; Jordan Smith, “Texas Admits Its Abortion Law Puts All Rights Up for Grabs,” Intercept, November 2, 2021, https://theintercept.com/2021/11/02/abortion-texas-sb8-supreme-court/↩
- [4]Sophia Bollag, “Gavin Newsom calls for bill modeled on Texas abortion ban to crack down on gun manufacturers,” Sacramento Bee, December 11, 2021, https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article256524466.html↩
- [5]Sophia Bollag, “Gavin Newsom calls for bill modeled on Texas abortion ban to crack down on gun manufacturers,” Sacramento Bee, December 11, 2021, https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article256524466.html; Molly Jong-Fast, “Democrats Should ‘Do Something’ the Way the GOP Does Things,” Atlantic, June 1, 2022, https://newsletters.theatlantic.com/wait-what/62977fdd66d6b500218ffc11/biden-democrats-midterm-elections-gun-laws-uvalde/↩