SACRAMENTO — The California Assembly on Thursday failed to pass a bill that would have raised taxes on handguns and ammunition. The bill by Assemblyman Marc Levine, a Democrat from San Rafael, would have imposed a 10% tax on the sales price of handguns and an 11% tax on the...
Spate of Shootings Raises Fears of a Violent Summer
CHICAGO — A spate of shootings over the past several days has law enforcement on edge, with some warning that a turbulent brew of a pandemic, racial unrest, historic surges in gun sales and a rancorous election year could make it an especially deadly summer. Although mass shootings are down...
Eminem Drops Surprise Album, Advocates Changes to Gun Laws
Rapper Eminem once again dropped a surprise album, releasing “Music to Be Murdered By” on Friday — along with a video that calls for changes to gun laws. The follow-up to 2018's “Kamikaze” — also released without warning — was announced on Twitter just after midnight. The Detroit rapper's new music video for “Darkness,”...
Dictionary.com Chooses 'Existential' as Word of the Year
NEW YORK — Climate change, gun violence, the very nature of democracy and an angsty little movie star called Forky helped propel “existential” to Dictionary.com’s word of the year. The choice reflects months of high-stakes threats and crises, real and pondered, across the news, the world and throughout 2019. “In...
California Adopts Broadest US Rules for Seizing Guns
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday signed a law that will make the state the first to allow employers, co-workers and teachers to seek gun violence restraining orders against other people. The bill was vetoed twice by former governor Jerry Brown, a Democrat, and goes beyond a measure that...
NRA Sues San Francisco Over Terrorist Declaration
The National Rifle Association sued San Francisco on Monday over the city's recent declaration that the gun-rights lobby is a "domestic terrorist organization." The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, accuses city officials of violating the gun lobby's free speech rights for political reasons...
Congress Returns to McConnell’s Legislative ‘Graveyard’
WASHINGTON — Facing criticism that the Senate has become little more than what one member calls an "expensive lunch club," Congress returns for the fall session Monday with pressure mounting on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to address gun violence, election security and other issues. The Kentucky Republican has promised...
McConnell Says He’s Waiting on Trump to Chart Path on Guns
WASHINGTON — Congressional Republicans are waiting for the White House to chart a path forward on gun violence legislation, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday, effectively putting the burden on President Donald Trump to decide the GOP's legislative response to the spate of mass shootings that included another deadly attack...
AP FACT CHECK: Trump's Illusory Claims of Gains From Tariffs
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is painting a false picture of a U.S. economy unaffected by his trade war with China and other countries. He describes a blue-sky world in which rapidly escalating tariffs have no impact on American consumers even as a raft of businesses and economists say otherwise, chastising those...
AP FACT CHECK: Trump's Illusory Claims of Gains From Tariffs
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is painting a false picture of a U.S. economy unaffected by his trade war with China and other countries. He describes a blue-sky world in which rapidly escalating tariffs have no impact on American consumers even as a raft of businesses and economists say otherwise, chastising those...