Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
McConnell Gives Nod To Bipartisan Gun Deal
The Washington Post: Mitch McConnell Signals Support For Bipartisan Gun Deal
A tentative bipartisan deal to toughen federal gun laws picked up momentum in the Senate on Tuesday after Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) lent public support to a framework that negotiators released this week. McConnell’s backing provided further evidence that the current round of gun-law negotiations, which kicked off after last month’s deadly shooting inside a Texas elementary school, might just have what previous attempts at bipartisan compromise did not — sufficient GOP support to overcome a filibuster. (DeBonis, 6/14)
Politico: How A Centrist, A Liberal And 2 Conservatives Achieved 4-Part Harmony On Guns
One day after the mass shooting of 19 children and two teachers in Texas, Kyrsten Sinema held a rare off-the-cuff press gaggle where she vowed to talk to Republicans about a gun safety deal. The Arizona Democrat didn’t waste any time after those remarks. She then marched onto the Senate floor to ask Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his deputy, John Thune, which Republicans she needed to talk to. The GOP duo replied to her: John Cornyn and Thom Tillis. (Everett and Levine, 6/14)
In other updates on the gun violence epidemic —
Houston Chronicle: Gov. Greg Abbott Takes ‘Minimalist Approach’ To Uvalde Shooting Response, Experts Say
In the three weeks since a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at a Uvalde elementary school, Gov. Greg Abbott has declined to use the power of his office to call a special session, form commissions or issue executive orders to address school safety or gun violence. Instead, the governor has issued eight directives imploring other Texas officials to take action, from conducting school safety assessments to promoting technology to report suspicious behavior. It’s a strategy that political experts say is substantive — but does not nearly represent the extent of the governor’s authority or influence. “As governor, he is the chief administrative officer of the state, and all the state agencies fall under his administrative purview,” said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University. “For the governor to be instructing various agencies to take a part in the response to gun violence and the Uvalde shooting is perfectly reasonable. But on another level, it is — as always in Texas — a minimalist response.” (Harris, 6/15)
Des Moines Register: Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds Announces $100M School Shooting Prevention Plan
Iowa will spend $100 million of federal funding to prevent school shootings, Gov. Kim Reynolds announced Tuesday. The funds will be used to conduct vulnerability assessments on schools, provide active shooter training, hire additional staff at the Department of Public Safety and create new pathways to report and monitor threats of violence. Schools, both public and private, will also be eligible for up to $50,000 each to improve the security of their buildings. (Akin, 6/14)
ABC News: Philadelphia Installing 100 Cameras Near Schools In Effort To Curb Gun Violence
In an effort to curb shootings and make going to and from school less dangerous for students, Philadelphia officials announced they will spend $1.8 million on installing security cameras near city high schools and middle schools in high crime neighborhoods. Standing outside the John Bartram High School in Southwest Philadelphia, where a 17-year-old student was fatally shot in January after leaving campus, Mayor Jim Kenney and other city leaders said at a news conference Monday they hope the cameras will make criminals think twice about committing shootings around a school. (Hutchinson, 6/14)
Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Discusses Using Public Health Board To Possibly Regulate Guns
Ohio law has long prohibited local governing bodies like city councils from passing laws restricting guns, but could the Columbus Board of Health take action on firearm safety?Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein floated that idea at the city Board of Health's May 17 meeting, but did not propose specific policies that the board could adopt. "We have taken it upon ourselves to look at loopholes and exceptions in the way that perhaps the legislature left wiggle room for the City of Columbus to act," Klein, a Democrat like other city leaders, said during the May meeting. "Where we think there's opportunity is actually in the regulations that can be passed from the Board of Health," Klein said. "But what those are, are to be determined." (Laird, 6/15)
Stateline: Few States Seem Ready To Raise Age To Buy Semi-Automatic Rifles
Many people have noted a common thread between the recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas: In both cases, the attackers were 18 years old and bought AR-style, semi-automatic rifles legally. The perpetrators in two other mass shootings in the past four years also were younger than 21 when they purchased the semi-automatic rifles they used in their attacks. In February 2018, a 19-year-old former student killed 17 people and injured 17 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. And in April 2021, a 19-year-old shooter killed eight people and injured seven at a FedEx warehouse in Indianapolis. (Vasilogambros, 6/14)
AP: California To Pay $51M Over Killings At Veterans Home
California officials have agreed to pay $51 million to settle lawsuits against the state stemming from a shooting at a home for veterans in Northern California where a former patient fatally shot three female mental health workers and then himself. On March 9, 2018, Albert Wong, 36, took hostage three staffers with The Pathway Home, a nonprofit that operated a program at the Veterans Home of California in Yountville. The nonprofit treated veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars with post-traumatic stress disorder. (6/15)
