Another week, another string of wild developments.
This time, President Joe Biden became the first incumbent to give up his reelection bid so close to election day. Kamala Harris quickly wrapped up support as his replacement from nearly every major figure in the party. Her move to the top of the ticket may portend the party’s move left on gun policy, given her record on the issue when compared to Biden.
Harris is already promising to continue the fight for new gun restrictions in her first campaign appearances. However, she’s stuck to Biden’s script thus far. I do my best to answer whether she’ll change direction on guns as the campaign moves forward.
Contributing Writer Jake Fogleman takes a look at the frontrunners to be Harris’s VP pick and their individual record on firearms.
Then I detail how the gun-control groups have retaken the lead in the 2024 money race. And Jake looks at how lower courts are reacting to the Supreme Court’s Rahimi decision in their own Second Amendment cases.
Plus, Cam Edwards joins the podcast to talk about whether the wild developments in the lead-up to and duration of the RNC will impact gun policy. And don’t forget to check out all of the gun news links to stories outside The Reload at the bottom of the newsletter!
Biden Drops Out and Endorses Harris, Who Previously Ran to His Left on Guns
By Stephen Gutowski
President Joe Biden just ended his reelection campaign and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. The move pushes the Democratic ticket further left on gun policy.
On Sunday, President Biden announced he would no longer seek reelection. He followed up that announcement by endorsing his running mate to take over the reins of the 2024 campaign.
“While it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” he tweeted.
Kamala Harris Touts Gun Control in First Election Speech
By Stephen Gutowski
In her first campaign address since President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race, Vice President Kamala Harris emphasized her support for new gun restrictions.
On Monday, Harris rallied with Democratic campaign staff in Wilmington, Delaware. She laid out her vision for her own potential presidency, which included a number of new gun-control laws. She described herself and the campaign staffers as “we who believe in the freedom to live safe from gun violence.” Then, she made specific policy promises.
“That’s why we will work to pass universal background checks, Red Flag laws, and an assault weapons ban,” Harris said.
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Analysis: Will Kamala Harris Move Her Campaign Left on Guns? [Member Exclusive]
By Stephen Gutowski
In under a week, Kamala Harris has all but completed her swap to the top of the Democratic ticket.
On Sunday, President Joe Biden announced he was dropping out of his reelection campaign and endorsing Harris instead. Within a few days, she collected most of the remaining big-name endorsements as well. She also took over the reins of Biden’s campaign.
Where she steers that campaign remains to be seen, though. Harris ran to the left of Biden on a number of issues during the 2020 primary campaign, including gun policy. But will she bring those more stringent views on gun control to the 2024 general election?
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Where the Democratic VP Front-Runners Stand on Guns
By Jake Fogleman
With Kamala Harris’s place at the top of the Democratic ticket this November all but guaranteed, attention has now turned to who she plans to tap as the party’s vice-presidential nominee.
Despite some conflicting reports about who exactly is currently being vetted by the Harris campaign for the job, a consensus is emerging around a handful of perceived moderate Democrats as being the likely choices. The current Vice President’s stance on guns is well-established, and she has already signaled that she plans to run on strict gun control. But how do those on her presumed short-list of candidates balance out or accentuate her view on guns?
Click here to read the full piece.
Gun-Control Groups Retake Political Fundraising Lead
By Stephen Gutowski
The major gun-control groups have pulled back ahead of their opponents in the 2024 money race.
The top three organizations pushing for new gun restrictions outpaced the largest gun-rights groups in June, according to Federal Election Commission records released this week. Giffords, Everytown, and Brady combined to raise $588,386 for their respective Political Action Committees (PACs). Meanwhile, the National Rifle Association’s Political Victory Fund brought in $513,913 and none of the other gun-rights groups who report monthly totals raised more than twenty thousand dollars.
That reverses the outcome of the previous month, where the NRA alone managed to outraise the gun-control groups for the first time this year.
Podcast: The Fallout of the Trump Assassination Attempt and RNC on Gun Politics (Ft. Cam Edwards)
By Stephen Gutowski
It has been just over a week since somebody shot and tried to kill Donald Trump. In that time, the RNC has come and gone. Gun policy was nowhere to be found.
What does all that mean for the short and long-term prospects of the gun-rights movement?
That’s the question we’ve brought Bearing Arms editor Cam Edwards on to the show to help us answer. He’s one of the best gun writers in the country, and he brings a complementary but unique view of where this is all headed.
You can listen to the show on your favorite podcasting app or by clicking here. Video of the episode is available on our YouTube channel.
Plus, Contributing writer Jake Fogleman and I cover the 2024 RNC coming to a close. We then turn to a recapping of where things stand with the NRA in the second phase of its New York corruption trial. Finally, we wrap up with a discussion of a new appeals court ruling upholding gun carry rights for young adults, Massachusetts’ new omnibus gun control bill, and the Ninth Circuit’s decision to vacate yet another Second Amendment ruling.
Analysis: How Lower Courts are Applying Rahimi [Member Exclusive]
By Jake Fogleman
In the few weeks since it was handed down, we’ve begun to see the impact of the Supreme Court’s decision in US v. Rahimi. Early indications are it could be limited.
In the highest-profile example so far, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that Minnesota’s practice of denying 18-20-year-olds the ability to obtain gun carry permits is unconstitutional. That ruling offered one of the first signs of just how much (or how little) courts might change their practices in Second Amendment cases since the Supreme Court elaborated on how best to perform the history and tradition test it first developed just two years ago.
“Minnesota has not met its burden to proffer sufficient evidence to rebut the presumption that 18 to 20-year-olds seeking to carry handguns in public for self-defense are protected by the right to keep and bear arms,” Judge Duane Benton wrote in Worth v. Jacobson. “The Carry Ban […] violates the Second Amendment as applied to Minnesota through the Fourteenth Amendment, and, thus, is unconstitutional.”
If you’re a Reload Member, click here to read more. If not, buy a membership today for exclusive access to this piece and hundreds of others!
Outside The Reload
US judge blocks Biden administration’s forced reset trigger ban | Reuters | By Brendan Pierson
Army investigation reveals series of failures ahead of Maine mass shooting | CNN | By Haley Britzky
Wisconsin agrees to drop ban on carrying firearms while fishing following challenge | AP News
Federal court won’t block New Mexico’s 7-day waiting period on gun sales | AP News | By Morgan Lee
It Is Time For An NRA Homecoming | America’s 1st Freedom | By Doug Hamlin
That’s it for this week in guns.
I’ll see you all next week.
Thanks,
Stephen Gutowski
Founder
The Reload
