The Weekly Reload Podcast

It has been just over a week since somebody shot and tried to kill Donald Trump. In that time, the RNC has come and gone. Gun policy was nowhere to be found. What does all that mean for the short and long-term prospects of the gun-rights movement? That's the question we've brought Bearing Arms editor Cam Edwards on to the show to help us answer. He's one of the best gun writers in the country, and he brings a complementary but unique view of where this is all headed. Cam argued the silence on the Second Amendment at the RNC was evidence the gun-rights movement's continued reliance on a single party for its influence is a real risk. However, he also said Trump's assassination attempt may not drive new gun restrictions like some others in American history have. And he argued the GOP's newfound skittishness toward gun politics could actually reverse if the race tightens than the other way around. Click this link for your free trial from our sponsor The Dispatch: https://thedispatch.com/join-offer-reload/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=reload0624Special Guest: Cam Edwards.

Contributing writer Jake Fogleman and I cover the 2024 RNC coming to a close without so much as a single mention of gun policy and what that might mean for the politics of the gun rights movement. We then turn to a recapping of where things stand with the NRA in the second phase of its New York corruption trial. Finally we wrap up with a discussion of a new appeals court ruling upholding gun carry rights for young adults, Massachusetts' new omnibus gun control bill, and the Ninth Circuit's decision to vacate yet another Second Amendment ruling. Click this link for your free trial from our sponsor The Dispatch: https://thedispatch.com/join-offer-reload/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=reload0624

This week, we're turning our attention back to the National Rifle Association. Just as the nation's largest gun-rights group heads back to a Manhattan courtroom for the final phase of its civil corruption trial, one of the leading reformers on its board has made a last-ditch effort to intervene. Phil Journey joins the show to explain why he emailed Judge Joel Cohen seeking to join the trial separately from the NRA and the Attorney General's office. He argued that neither the NRA's lawyers nor the AG truly represented him or the NRA's membership. He said the judge should remove the Brewer firm from representing the group, and he should listen to what NRA members want over what the AG wants. Journey said he had been encouraged when candidates he backed won most of the leadership elections a few months back, but he grew disillusioned with how things have played out since then. Journey admitted the intervention request is a long shot, but he felt it was still the best way forward. He accused new NRA President Bob Barr of withholding committee appointments to try and control reformers--something Barr and the NRA deny. He argued the best path forward is for him to be able to argue his own point of view in court. Click this link for your free trial from our sponsor The Dispatch: https://thedispatch.com/join-offer-reload/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=reload0624Special Guest: Phillip Journey.

Contributing writer Jake Fogleman and I discuss the GOP's first new platform in 8 years dropping almost all of the party's gun policy promises and what that means for the future of gun voters. We also discuss newly released NRA documents revealing the true extent of the group's membership decline and the ongoing arguments surrounding its attempts to avoid punishment and further reform in the wake of the New York corruption verdict. Finally, we wrap up with a quick discussion of a new ruling striking down the gun ban for illegal immigrants, a gun rights challenge to New York's body armor ban, and the advent of ammunition vending machines in grocery stores.

In Rahimi, the Supreme Court recently handed down its first application of the Bruen test for Second Amendment cases. With the Court passing on new Second Amendment cases and remanding several in its final conference of the term, its opinion in Rahimi will be the thing most lower courts look to for guidance during at least the near future. That's why we had pro-gun scholar David Kopel on the show two weeks ago to give his interpretation of what the opinion means for future gun cases. It's also why we have Bruen critic and Pepperdine University law professor Jake Charles on the show this week to give his take. We think it's important to give you guys insight from several different perspectives on important developments like this. That way, you're best informed about what's going on and can make up your own mind. Like Kopel, Charles's writing seemed to have a direct impact on the Rahimi ruling itself. Charles has been critical of the Bruen test's reliance on analogizing historical laws to modern regulations since the Court handed it down back in 2022. One of his primary complaints is that the lack of a certain regulation for a societal issue faced during the Founding Era implies that regulation is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment. Some of the justices, including Amy Coney Barrett, appeared to agree with that critique in Rahimi. Charles also agreed with Justice Clarence Thomas on how the majority seemed to be rejecting the Bruen test--at least to some degree. But he wasn't sure how much of a seachange the ruling would create in the lower courts. And he argued the Court will probably have to take up more Second Amendment cases to answer many of the questions Rahimi left unanswered. Click this link for your free trial from our sponsor The Dispatch: https://thedispatch.com/join-offer-reload/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=reload0624Special Guest: Jake Charles.

Contributing writer Jake Fogleman and I discuss the Supreme Court’s refusal to take up any new Second Amendment cases ahead of next term. We then turned to a discussion of whether the demise of the Chevron doctrine makes any difference in gun rights lawsuits. Finally, we wrap up by covering a pair of novel California gun laws that went into effect this week. Click this link for your free trial from our sponsor The Dispatch: https://thedispatch.com/join-offer-reload/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=reload0624

This week, we've got a guest coming to us straight from the middle of a war zone. Tim Mak joins the show from Kyiv, Ukraine. He's an experienced war correspondent who has worked for leading news outlets and founded his own independent publication just over a year ago to cover the war in Ukraine on the ground. The Counteroffensive publishes original reporting from inside the country and recently profiled the man behind an effort to install gun-rights protections in the nation's law. Mak said the effort has made significant progress. Legislation to legalize civilian gun ownership has already made it through a first read in the Ukranian parliament. He said it has a lot of support within President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's party. Much of that support is driven by Maryan Zablotskiy, who talks a lot like American gun-rights activists and has cultivated relationships inside the American conservative movement. But Mak said he's not the only one in Ukraine whose opinion on gun ownership has been changed after facing the brutal reality of the Russian invasion. Still, he noted not everyone agrees, and there is an active debate over what regulations on civilian guns should remain. Click this link for your free trial from our sponsor The Dispatch: https://thedispatch.com/join-offer-reload/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=reload0624Special Guest: Tim Mak.

Contributing writer Jake Fogleman and I discuss the lack of discussion on gun policy during the first Presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. We also cover the ongoing fallout from the Supreme Court's Rahimi decision, including Justice Thomas' dissent and the DOJ's request for more clarity from the Court on gun rights for felons. Finally, we discuss the NRA's improved political fundraising numbers, its tone shift on gun rights for felons, the ATF's improved approval times for suppressors, and a Georgia jury's decision to find gunmaker SIG liable for negligent discharges. Follow this link for your free trial at The Dispatch: https://thedispatch.com/join-offer-reload/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=reload0624

The Supreme Court handed down its first Second Amendment ruling in two years on Friday. It's also the first case where The Court applied the test it developed in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen. Those facts alone mean US v. Rahimi will hold a great deal of influence on gun cases across the nation. So, we've got one of the top pro-gun scholars in the country on the show to break down what The Court did and didn't hold. Independence Institute's David Kopel has been at the forefront of the Second Amendment fight for decades, with citations in federal court decisions coast to coast and at the Supreme Court itself. He also filed a brief in Rahimi that appears to have significantly influenced the majority's thinking. Kopel lays out the good, bad, and ugly of the ruling that upheld the domestic violence restraining order gun ban. He said he wasn't surprised The Court upheld Rahimi's conviction, given a lower court found him dangerous. He also agreed with some of the warnings about how the majority loosened the standard for the Bruen test that Justice Clarance Thomas included in his lengthy dissent. However, Kopel said he was overall pleased with the Rahimi decision's outcome. He argued it gave credence to future challenges to the same law by defendants who don't have the same lengthy criminal record as Rahimi did. He also predicted how the case might impact other Second Amendment cases pending in the lower courts. Follow this link for your free trial at The Dispatch: https://thedispatch.com/join-offer-reload/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=reload0624Special Guest: David Kopel.

I detail the latest Supreme Court Second Amendment ruling on this week's episode of the News Update. Then I talk about President Biden's new gun control ad and the risk vs. reward of his strategy in centering his call for new firearms restrictions as the election nears. I also go over an on-the-ground report from The Counteroffensive out of Ukraine about a new effort to bring the war-torn country its own version of the Second Amendment. Follow this link for your free trial at The Dispatch: https://thedispatch.com/join-offer-reload/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=reload0624