The election is just days away. In fact, it’s the day after this episode is released to the public.
The time to cover the daily developments on the campaign trail is over. Now, it’s time to look ahead at what the realistic expectations on gun policy should be for a potential Trump or Harris administration. To do that, I’ve brought somebody from an outlet on nearly the opposite side of the spectrum from The Reload.
Jennifer Mascia has been a reporter at The Trace, a non-profit publication with ties to Everytown for Gun Safety, since it was founded. She is well-sourced inside the gun-control movement and closely follows gun politics news. She joins the show to help suss out the most likely policies Trump or Harris would pursue and by what means.
Mascia and I agreed legislation is the least likely area for change since Republicans are likely to gain a Senate majority regardless of who wins the presidency–but only a narrow majority. Instead, the real action will be in court appointments and executive actions. There, Harris may be more restrained by both a Republican Senate and the amount of gun action President Joe Biden has already undertaken. Trump is likely to continue judicial appointments in line with his first term while potentially firing the ATF Director Biden appointed and undoing his executive actions, though it’s hard to say how far he’d expand beyond that.
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. An auto-generated transcript is here. Reload Members get access on Sunday, as always. Everybody else can listen on Monday.
A free 30-day trial of The Dispatch is available here.
Plus, Contributing writer Jake Fogleman and I cover the races that national gun groups are pouring their money into. We also discuss an interesting new ruling upholding Washington DC’s magazine ban on unique grounds. We wrap up by covering Kamala Harris’ recent comments in a podcast appearance attempting to cast Donald Trump as a threat to the Second Amendment.
