The user manual for the machine protecting the gun industry

March for Our Lives is the youth led organization created by survivors of the shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Their purpose is to reduce gun violence in America. They’ve had some wins and, thanks to the current Supreme Court, some losses. They have now put together a description of The Machine, a User Manual for the Gun Industry. It begins by saying:

The gun industry is not an accident. It is a system — built over decades by corporations, lobbyists, lawyers, and politicians — that manufactures profit from weapons and protects itself from accountability. This is its user manual.

They begin with the lobbying organizations. We’re familiar with the National Rifle Association, but that organization is waning due to scandals. They have been superseded by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR), and the Gun Owners of America (GOA). They are well assisted by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a conservative organization that creates model legislation and pushes it out to member state legislators. Next up are the manufacturers. Smith & Wesson (founded 1852); Sturm, Ruger & Co.; Sig Sauer, maker of handguns; Glock; Daniel Defense, who made the rifle used in the Uvalde shooting; and Remington (founded in 1816). There is a legal architecture, mostly created by the Supreme Court. The Heller Decision of 2008 established the individual right to bear arms, which dismantled handgun bans. The Bruen Decision of 2022 required gun laws to match the 1791 tradition. No, not a misprint. And the PLCAA, a law passed in 2005 that protects gun manufacturers and dealers from liability. They are funded by dark money wielded by the NRA Political Victory Fund, the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, and the Safari Club International. A section shows how The Machine is interconnected through money, messaging, and legislation. A section shows how The Machine operates. I mentioned the PLCAA, the liability shield. There are preemption laws that prevent cities and counties from passing regulations stricter than their state laws. At least 40 states have such laws at the urging of ALEC. There are Stand Your Ground laws that expand the legal justification for lethal force and caused gun deaths to rise. These are not applied equally – when a white perpetrator kills a black victim 36% of the time it is ruled justified, but when a black perpetrator kills a white victim only 3% are ruled justified. The Tiahrt Amendment, renewed annually, prevents the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) from releasing data to identify gun dealers who supply the crime gun market. Studies have shown 5% of dealers supply 90% of crime guns. The Shooting, Hunting, and Outdoor Trade Show – SHOT Show, the largest trade show for guns. 50,000 industry professionals attend. It is not open to the public. It is a way for the industry to discuss messaging, strategy, regulations, litigation trends, and political priorities. The 1996 Dickey Amendment to the federal spending bills bans the CDC from doing gun violence research. Now for a bit of good news. “Every machine has failure points. Here's where to apply pressure right now.” Much of this is at the state level and is geared towards: Restoring the ban on bump stocks. Regulating ghost guns (guns that cannot be traced). Repealing PLCAA. Passing safe storage laws to prevent children from accessing guns. Passing universal background checks. Restoring dealer accountability. Passing red flag laws that take guns away from people found to pose a risk to themselves or others. Funding gun violence research. This last section suggests ways to get involved, usually by telling your state legislators and members of Congress what changes you support. There is a way to list the legislation that is active in your state. Something a bit lighter. In the comments of today’s pundit roundup for Daily Kos are more memes playing off the nasty guy’s lie that he was carried by strong firemen out of the World Trade Center site after the 9/11 attack. My favorite shows him being carried out by Obama and Biden – both wearing tan suits. Marty Schladen, in an article for Stateline posted on Kos discussed why 720,000 people stopped working for work over the last two years. A big reason is a large number of them have been deported.

Eric Pachman used government data to determine that 2.1 million foreign-born, working-age men have left the country since the start of Trump’s second term. Eighty-eight percent of them were working when they left the country, according to the analysis. “Over the past two years foreign-born men’s labor force shrank by 1.4 million,” the report on Pachman’s website, Data 4 the People, says. “But in a normal pair of summers it would have grown by about 360,000 — so measured against trend, the swing is 1.8 million.”