The murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has continued to dominate the headlines this week, and we got further insight into the shooter’s gun. It turns out his pistol was built with 3D-printed parts, perhaps even his silencer.
I talked about some of the implications of that at length on CNN. But I wanted to get more insights from experts in the homemade gun community. So, I asked them what they could tell about the gun from the video and pictures we have of it. The answer was surprisingly detailed.
Then I asked them what such a high-profile killing with a 3D-printed gun might do for efforts to ban them. I also look at what his use of a silencer might mean for those already highly regulated devices. Those are both member-exclusives, though. So, if you haven’t already, take advantage of the end of our 20% off sale today!
We also saw big news out of the NRA’s New York corruption trail this week. Judge Joel Cohen issued his final ruling in the case. It ends the gun group’s half-decade-long ordeal and implements significant governance reforms.
The Supreme Court also rejected one of the most bizarre gun cases in recent memory. Plus, GMU’s Robert Leider weighs in on what Trump should do with the ATF on the podcast. And we have a bunch of other gun stories down in the links.
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Homemade Gun Experts on the CEO Killer’s Loadout
By Stephen Gutowski
Home-gun-making pioneers and activists say the man accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson used a 3D-printed gun but wasn’t known to them, and they’re unsure why he went the homemade route.
The experts who spoke with The Reload said pictures of the attacker’s gun show the frame contains telltale signs of 3D printing, including visible layers and potential minor damage from where the builder removed it from the printer, rather than signs it was a more common pre-made but unfinished frame found in many homemade gun kits. While the shooter had to source the metal components of the pistol, such as the slide and barrel, he appears to have made the plastic frame from scratch.
“I can absolutely confirm it’s a 3D-printed frame with 100% certainty,” John, who goes by Mr.Snow.Makes on social media and is a prolific gun maker, told The Reload.
Enthusiasts Worry CEO Killer’s 3D-Printed Gun Could Bring New Restriction Push [Member Exclusive]
By Stephen Gutowski
A 26-year-old Ivy League grad, who suffered a severe back injury, stands accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare’s CEO with a 3D-printed gun.
Video of the killing has been seen by countless millions across the country. Homemade gun pioneers and activists shared details of what the video reveals about the shooter’s gun and, perhaps, his thought process with The Reload. But what do they expect the high-profile killing will mean for the future of 3D-printed guns?
“This incident will be anecdotally referenced forever,” Rob Pincus, who founded a shooting competition for homemade guns, told The Reload.
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New York Judge Issues Final Order Cementing NRA Reforms
By Joseph Brucker
New York Supreme Court Judge Joel Cohen filed a judgment on Wednesday in the state’s civil corruption case against the National Rifle Association (NRA), finalizing numerous reforms the group will be required to implement.
Cohen’s judgment keeps the gun-rights group intact and free of a government overseer but forces it to institute a series of reforms to prevent executives from misusing funds. Among those is a ban on some longtime NRA leaders serving on the group’s audit committee, a new process for board elections, a new committee to implement further reforms, and new protections for internal watchdogs. The judgment also cemented the $6.35 million penalty former executives Wayne LaPierre and Wilson “Woody” Phillips owe to the gun-rights group.
The judge barred LaPierre from any leadership role with fiduciary responsibility at the NRA for ten years as well.
Click here to continue reading.
Supreme Court Denies Request to Hear Hawaii ‘Spirit of Aloha’ Carry Case
By Jake Fogleman
A rebuke of the Aloha State’s top court will not be the Supreme Court of the United States’s (SCOTUS) next Second Amendment contribution.
The justices on Monday denied a request for certiorari in Wilson v. Hawaii. The case is an appeal of a Hawaii Supreme Court decision reinstating gun charges against a man for carrying a firearm without a permit at a time when the state rarely issued them to its citizens under a now-unconstitutional may-issue regime.
Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justice Samuel Alito, wrote separately to criticize the Hawaii court’s ruling but defend the justices’ cert denial on procedural grounds.
“Although the interlocutory posture of the petition weighs against correcting this error now, I would grant certiorari in an appropriate case to reaffirm that the Second Amendment warrants the same respect as any other constitutional right,” he wrote.
Podcast: What Should Trump Do with the ATF? (Ft. GMU Professor Robert Leider)
By Stephen Gutowski
This week, we’re looking ahead at the next four years of gun policy.
With Donald Trump coming back into office having already promised to fire the current ATF director, it’s an open question of what he might do with the agency. That’s why we have George Mason University Professor Robert Leider back on the show to hear his view of what moves gun-rights activists should pursue. Leider has studied the administrative side of gun policy.
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 break down what we can glean about the UnitedHealthcare CEO’s assassin based on surveillance footage of his gun. We also cover President Joe Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter and what that means for Second Amendment challenges related to his gun crimes. We wrap up by discussing the trend of Trump’s law enforcement cabinet picks having a history of supporting red flag laws, the US House of Representatives’ new legal brief in Smith and Wesson’s upcoming Supreme Court case, and what to make of new reports that Trump’s relationship with the NRA has soured.
Analysis: The Potential Political Fallout from CEO Killer’s Silencer [Member Exclusive]
By Jake Fogleman
Gun-rights advocates have been building momentum for silencer deregulation headed into the next Trump Administration. The assassination of a high-profile health insurance executive could scuttle that effort.
On Wednesday, a masked assailant shot and killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel. While the identity and whereabouts of the gunman are still unclear, surveillance footage of the murder shows that he used a semi-automatic pistol equipped with some kind of silencer–more accurately labeled a sound suppressor by the industry. Because suppressors are almost never used in crime, that facet of that attack has already garnered significant media attention.
“In all of my years of law enforcement, I have never seen a silencer before,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D.) said in a MSNBC interview. “And so that was really something that was shocking to us all.”
Prior to the incident, gun-rights advocates had been riding a cultural wave of growing support for suppressors both within and even beyond the gun-owning community that they hope to translate into policy change.
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Outside The Reload
After N.R.A.’s Supreme Court Win, a Dispute Over Key Facts | New York Times | By Danny Hakim
That’s it for this week in guns.
I’ll see you all next week.
Thanks,
Stephen Gutowski
Founder
The Reload
