What If Law Enforcement Refuses to Enforce an Assault Weapons Ban?
Good morning from the Hive newsroom. Joe Biden said he “was outraged and deeply pained” to see the horrific video of Memphis police beating Tyre Nichols, whose death has sparked protests and widespread condemnation, Kelly Rissman writes. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said the killing of Nichols “by officers sworn to protect the community is unconscionable.”
Just hours before the graphic footage of Nichols circulated, disturbing video was released of the brutal assault on Paul Pelosi. But as Bess Levin writes, Pelosi “will probably have to wait on that apology from the right-wing media,” despite prominent personalities, Republicans, and their conservative followers having “spread baseless rumors” about the October attack. Levin also digs into a new report on the record-setting executions during Donald Trump’s administration.
Meanwhile, in Illinois, Eric Lutz reports how more than 90 sheriffs have vowed to defy an assault weapons ban signed earlier this month by Governor JB Pritzker. Gun control proponents fear the sheriffs’ stance “could undermine the gun-safety measure,” Lutz writes, “erode public trust in the rule of law more broadly, and leave more Illinoisans vulnerable to gun violence.”
