New York's Letitia James Under Formal Investigation

Is a serial killer prowling around Austin, Texas? Blaze TV Staff June 23, 2025 Dave Landau of 'Normal World' thinks it’s true. Since 2022, 38 bodies have been found in or near Lady Bird Lake in Austin, Texas. The most recent was recovered just earlier this month. On June 3, a teenage male kayaker was found two days after he swam into a deep part of the lake without a life jacket and disappeared under the water. Many of the deaths in and around Lady Bird Lake have been attributed to accidental drownings. Other deaths have been ruled suicides and drug overdoses; only one death has been declared a homicide. However, several cases remain unknown. Another disturbing fact is that 30 of the 38 bodies were males, 60% of which were between 30 and 49 years of age, leading many locals to suspect a serial killer, given serial killers usually target victims with specific characteristics — especially age and gender. The Austin Police Department has insisted that no evidence supports the existence of a serial killer, but locals are not convinced. Several petitions for police to investigate drownings as potential homicides have been filed. Many believe that the proximity of Rainey Street, a nightlife hub with numerous bars and clubs, has led to men being drugged and lured to Lady Bird Lake where they were intentionally drowned. While the city has implemented safety upgrades, including increased patrols, fencing, lighting, and cameras around the lake, APD has maintained that no serial killer is on the loose. Sign up for the Blaze Newsletter

2A News Out of New Jersey You Won’t Believe: It’s Actually a Good Thing! Support NRA-ILA Join Today The Garden State is not where most seek positive developments regarding our right to arms, so we were pleasantly surprised when Englishtown, N.J., recently made a move to support the Second Amendment. On June 11, the Englishtown Borough Council voted to refund the $150 local gun permit fee charged to those who wish to obtain a permit to carry a handgun. While this is the first town in New Jersey to eliminate what amounts to a tax on the Second Amendment, there are rumblings that it will not be the last. This ridiculous fee stems from New Jersy’s response to the ruling in NYSRPA v Bruen, when the United States Supreme Court recognized that citizens have a right to carry firearms for self-defense. The state, when it realized it could no longer arbitrarily deny issuing carry permits, decided to make them prohibitively expensive. That scheme included making the cost $200, with $150 going to the municipality that issues the permit. The previous cost of these permits was $20. But Englishtown seems to have decided that it was more important to recognize the right to arms, rather than take part in a scheme to fleece citizens of their money that was clearly designed to deter interest in being able to lawfully provide for a constitutionally protected, often life-saving self-defense option. Englishtown Mayor Daniel Francisco, who introduced the proposal, noted, “In my capacity as mayor, it’s my job to protect my residents, including from the abuse of the state. I introduced this proposal and lobbied my council to support it because no natural right should be held hostage to a paywall. Joe LoPorto, director of the New Jersey Firearm Owners Syndicate (NJFOS), spoke in support of resolution, and told NJ.com, “Our end goal here was obviously to help get this resolution passed in Englishtown, but we want to introduce this in as many jurisdictions and municipalities around the state as we can.” To that end, LoPorto noted, “There are towns in Atlantic, Gloucester, Sussex, and Hunterdon counties that are, right now, considering this resolution,” adding. “We are working to circulate it through both a grassroots campaign and direct lobbying.” NRA is greatly encouraged by what is going on in New Jersey, in spite of the state’s history of animosity towards the rights of law-abiding gun owners. “Anti-gun politicians in New Jersey are trying to tax away our constitutional rights, and Englishtown made a powerful statement pushing back,” said NRA-ILA State Director Darin Goens. “I would echo the sentiments of Mr. Loporto, and we hope this is just the beginning as communities stand up one by one in defense of the Second Amendment in New Jersey.”

STATE GRASSROOTS ROUND-UP Florida Florida: Legislature Adjourns Sine Die from 2025 Session Maine Maine: Despite a Barrage of Gun Control Bills, Gun Owners Come out on Top Minnesota Minnesota: Shotgun-Only Hunting Zones Repealed Nevada Nevada: Governor Lombardo Vetoes More Anti-Gun Bills! New Jersey New Jersey: Senate Committee Advances Anti-Gun Package New York New York: Gun Owners Escape Session With No Damage Oregon Oregon: Committee Hearing For FFL-Killer Bill Tomorrow Oregon: Committee Work Session on Omnibus Gun Control Bill Tomorrow! Oregon: Gun Control Votes This Afternoon, TAKE ACTION NOW! Rhode Island Rhode Island: Senate Committee Advances Semi-Auto Ban Rhode Island: Legislature Passes Semi-Auto Ban

DOJ Files Amicus Brief Supporting NRA-Backed Challenge to IL’s Ban on “Assault Weapons” and “Large-Capacity Magazines” Support NRA-ILA Join Today Last Friday, the U.S. Department of Justice filed an amicus brief in the Seventh Circuit supporting an NRA-backed challenge to Illinois’s prohibition on so-called “assault weapons” and “large-capacity magazines.” On January 10, 2023, Illinois enacted HB 5741, the “Protect Illinois Communities Act” (“PICA”), which banned “assault weapons”—including over 1,000 previously lawful firearms—and “large-capacity magazines”—including 10+ round magazines for long guns and 15+ round magazines for handguns. Almost immediately, the NRA-backed lawsuit challenging these bans, Barnett v. Raoul, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. On April 28, 2023, the District Court preliminarily enjoined the bans, holding that they likely violate the Second Amendment. The Seventh Circuit reversed, however, holding on November 3, 2023, that the bans likely do not violate the Second Amendment. After the Supreme Court declined to hear the case at such an early stage in the litigation, the case returned to the District Court. Then on November 9, 2024, the District Court again ruled in our favor, finding that the bans violate the Second Amendment and entering a permanent injunction preventing their enforcement. The state subsequently appealed to the Seventh Circuit, which stayed the District Court’s ruling while it decides the case. On June 13, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice filed its amicus brief on behalf of the United States in the Seventh Circuit. The DOJ’s brief argues that because PICA bans arms that are commonly possessed for lawful purposes—including AR-style rifles and standard-capacity magazines—it violates the Second Amendment under the Supreme Court’s test for Second Amendment challenges. The brief also explains how the Seventh Circuit misapplied the Supreme Court’s test the last time it ruled on this case and urged the court to affirm the District Court’s permanent injunction. Please stay tuned to www.nraila.org for future updates on NRA-ILA’s ongoing efforts to defend your constitutional rights, and please visit www.nraila.org/litigation to keep up to date on NRA-ILA’s ongoing litigation efforts.

Ninth Circuit Strikes Down CA’s One-Gun-A-Month Law Support NRA-ILA Join Today Today, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that California’s law prohibiting people from buying more than one firearm in a 30-day period violates the Second Amendment. California enacted its one-gun-a-month law in 1999, at which point it applied only to concealable firearms. By 2024, it applied to all firearms. Several plaintiffs—including six individuals, PWGG, LP, North County Shooting Center, Firearms Policy Coalition, San Diego County Gun Owners Political Action Committee, and Second Amendment Foundation—challenged the law in the Southern District of California. After the district court held the law unconstitutional, the state appealed to the Ninth Circuit. The Ninth Circuit held the one-gun-a-month law facially unconstitutional under the text-and-history test set forth in the NRA’s landmark 2022 victory, NYSRPA v. Bruen. Starting with the Second Amendment’s text, the court recognized that the Amendment “expressly protects the right to possess multiple arms” by using the word “Arms.” Next considering the historical tradition of firearm regulation, the court concluded that while Bruen “does not require a ‘historical twin’ for a modern firearm regulation to pass muster,” California failed even to provide “a historical cousin for California’s one-gun-a-month law.” The opinion can be read here. And the amicus brief the NRA filed in the case can be read here. Please stay tuned to www.nraila.org for future updates on NRA-ILA’s ongoing efforts to defend your constitutional rights, and please visit www.nraila.org/litigation to keep up to date on NRA-ILA’s ongoing litigation efforts.

Switched Off: A Case Study on Minnesota’s Illegal Machine Gun Law Support NRA-ILA Join Today There’s been a lot of noise of late about auto sears or so-called “Glock switches” – devices to convert a semiautomatic firearm into an automatic weapon. New Mexico adopted a “weapon conversion device” ban in February, and in March, Alabama enacted a similar law to restrict possession of devices designed or intended to convert a pistol into a machine gun. New Jersey was also considering a bill to criminalize possession and sale of “machine gun conversion devices.” Under federal law, the devices are already regulated in the same way as fully functional “machineguns,” and simple possession of a machinegun (including just the device) is, subject to limited exceptions, a federal felony punishable by up to ten years’ imprisonment. Criminals who possess or use an auto sear in the commission of any “crime of violence” or “drug trafficking crime” face enhanced penalties under federal law that include a minimum 30 years’ imprisonment. The justification for this push to criminalize auto sears under state law tends to be that, regardless of the federal ban, there is a need to empower state and local law enforcement to go after the criminals who illegally possess or use these conversion devices. In Minnesota, for instance, severe state law sanctions apply to the illegal use and possession of these devices. Minnesota law prohibits the ownership, possession, or operation of a machine gun, “trigger activator,” or “machine gun conversion kit,” where “machine gun conversion kit” includes “any part or combination of parts designed and intended for use in converting a weapon into a machine gun.” A violation is a very serious crime indeed, judging from the potential penalty: incarceration for up to 20 years, payment of a fine of up to $35,000, or both the fine and time. Last year, Minnesota’s Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a state court lawsuit in Hennepin County against gunmaker Glock, Inc., a company which doesn’t manufacture, import, distribute or market auto sears, or provide information on how to install such aftermarket devices on its pistols. Ellison’s civil suit rests on the dubious claim the company makes and sells semi-automatic handguns “that Glock knows can easily be converted into illegal machine guns” using a so-called “Glock switch.” Yet in his press release on illegal machine guns and crime, Ellison stated that it “is critically important that we continue to hold individuals who commit crimes criminally accountable for their actions … Holding corporations civilly accountable is not a substitute for criminally prosecuting individuals who harm others.” The strict sanctions in state law and the Attorney General’s unequivocal directive about holding persons criminally accountable make the recent apprehension and release of an individual allegedly in illegal possession of a machinegun conversion device all the more inexplicable. On June 3, Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) officers executing a traffic stop encountered 18-year-old Amiir Mawlid Ali in a vehicle heading to the Edina High School graduation ceremony being held at the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis. According to the news report, Ali was known to be “associated with multiple recent gang-related shootings and was known to carry firearms,” and officers found a Glock handgun under his seat. The gun was “equipped with a loaded 33-round extended magazine and a machinegun conversion device.” Officers were aware that an unrelated shooting during a graduation ceremony at the same university campus happened a few days before. That shooting, at the May 30 Wayzata High School graduation ceremony, left two people injured, including a man shot in the head. Police used surveillance video to identify the alleged shooter and locate the suspect’s Glock handgun, which was equipped with a machinegun conversion device. The suspect was apprehended and reportedly faces state law charges of first-degree assault, second-degree assault, and possessing/operating a machine gun. A news report provides the timeline following Ali’s apprehension by the MPD. After being booked into Hennepin County Jail on a weapons charge on June 3, he was set free on June 5, as soon as his 36-hour hold expired. (A search of the Online Hennepin County Jail Roster confirms Ali was held without bail and released on June 5 at 4:40 PM.) The next day, June 6, police responded to a shooting at another high school graduation ceremony, at or near Burnsville High School, MN, in which multiple shots were fired but no one was injured. Ali was “among four people arrested following shots fired at the Burnsville graduation,” although the extent of his involvement is unclear. A news source includes an additional troubling allegation, citing court documents, that “in recorded jail calls following his arrest, Ali said he would need a ‘button’ – slang for a machine gun conversion device – upon his release.” In hindsight, the foregoing make the decision of the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office to release Ali from custody on June 5, apparently without charges, even more problematic, especially considering the messaging from the state’s top law enforcement officer about the “critical” importance of enforcing illegal machine gun laws. A spokesperson for the County Attorney’s Office explained that “ our office deferred the case against Mr. Ali for additional investigation because the evidence, as submitted, didn’t include necessary forensic testing results to overcome likely defenses. We requested it be resubmitted for charging consideration when the testing was complete.” The case, unfortunately, isn’t an outlier. One of our previous alerts described a 2022 case involving alleged gang-member brothers Cortez and Quintez, found in possession of firearms that had been illegally modified using auto sears. Prosecuted under state law, both received a probation-only sentence and released. As a newspaper report explains more fully: The twins were charged in Hennepin County in January 2022 with illegally possessing firearms modified with switches after they were caught with the guns as they left a funeral for another gang member. They pleaded guilty that spring and were sentenced to probation. But four days after Cortez’s sentence — and a week before Quantez was due back in court for his own sentencing — the brothers were pulled over by Maple Grove police. Officers found Cortez with an unmarked Polymer80 pistol, or ghost gun, with a loaded, high-capacity magazine. Quantez Ward had a rifle in a backpack. Months later, law enforcement searched their home and found other firearms, including another ghost gun outfitted with a switch. Federal law enforcement had no similar inhibitions, and the brothers have since been federally prosecuted and convicted for illegal possession of firearms/ammunition. (One of the brothers released a rap album from jail while awaiting sentencing, which included a track called “On Fully” that “celebrates converting semiautomatic pistols into machine guns.”). Amiir Mawlid Ali also faces federal prosecution. A June 11 press release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office cites “an investigation conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Explosives and Federal Bureau of Investigation Safe Streets Violent Gang Task Force, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the Minneapolis Police Department, and the University of Minnesota Police Department” leading to federal charges for unlawful possession of a machinegun being brought against Ali and against 20-year-old Hamza Abdirashiid Said, the suspect in the May 30 Wayzata High School graduation shooting. Both were detained in federal custody pending detention hearings. Of course, arrests and charges, whether state or federal, are merely an allegation of criminal conduct and not evidence of guilt; all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. While these cases continue to be dealt with by law enforcement and the courts, a few things are already apparent. There are plenty of existing laws with severe criminal sanctions available to be deployed against those possessing or using illegal machineguns or conversion devices. Not only is a machinegun conversion device illegal to possess under state law and federal law, a University of Minnesota policy on weapons on campus bans visitors and others from possessing or carrying firearms on University property. None of these seemed to have any deterrent effect. Second, even an infinite number of laws on books are worthless unless they are used to prosecute, fully, the persons with illegal machine guns and illegal conversion devices. Finally, instead of seeking to switch the responsibility and liability for crime from the third-party offenders onto the gunmaker Glock, Inc. (already strictly regulated under law), the more legally and practically sound approach is to use existing laws against criminals who violate the law and harm others.

Update: Washington Post Fact Checks Misleading Ad Council “Children” and Firearms Talking Point Support NRA-ILA Please Join Today! Last week, NRA-ILA explained how a recent public service announcement campaign from the federally funded Ad Council, and the gun control lobby more broadly, manipulates statistics to create misleading talking points about “children” and firearms. After press time, the (new and improved?) Washington Post published an item on their Fact Checker section by Glenn Kessler titled, “Are guns the biggest killer of ‘children and teens’?” In his mostly astute analysis, Kessler covered much of the same ground NRA-ILA has been addressing for years. The specific Ad Council talking point at issue is: “Gun injuries are the #1 Killer of Children and Teens in America.” The statement is sourced to the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, bankrolled by billionaire gun control advocate Michael Bloomberg. For decades, gun control advocates and their allies in “public health” have pushed versions of this factoid about “children” and firearms. As we pointed out last week, this is how the ploy works: Step one, acquire statistics on firearm-related deaths among children ages 0-14. Step two, combine that relatively low number with the far greater number of firearm-related deaths involving juveniles and young adults ages 15-17, 15-19, or even ages 15-24. Step three, present the resulting data as the shocking number of “children” (ages 0-17, 0-19 or 0-24) who are subjected to “gun violence” each day/week/month/year. Step four, use the disingenuous statistic to advocate for pre-determined gun control policies (often unenforceable “safe storage” laws) by claiming “gun violence is the leading cause of death of children.” Consider the data on those who may be properly defined as children – ages 0-14. For this cohort, firearm-related injuries are not the leading causes of death and are not higher than motor vehicle deaths. This does shift when examining the cohorts ages 15-17, 15-19, or 15-24. Roughly 70-percent of the firearm-related deaths that occur in the 0-17 age group happened among the juveniles ages 15-17 in 2023. This disparity shouldn’t be surprising. The 15-17 cohort is far more often engaged in the type of street crime that can give rise to firearm-related violence and that many jurisdictions have decided to address in a more lenient manner in recent years. Understanding this manipulation, Kessler wrote, when older teens (15 to 17, as defined by Johns Hopkins) are removed from the calculations using the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS), the numbers change dramatically, with almost 50 percent more deaths from vehicle crashes than firearms. Vehicle crashes exceed firearms deaths also for ages 1 to 15. As for children, ages 1 to 9 as defined by Johns Hopkins, firearms deaths are so much lower that they don’t even make second place. Kessler also pointed out how deaths involving firearms vary among different groups. The reporter pointed out, “The racial disparity in firearm deaths — and how it keeps growing — is striking, when you drill down on the CDC data,” and, “The racial disparity is even greater among teens.” The author noted, “In fact, much of the rise in firearm deaths in the 1-to-17 age range since 2018 can be attributed to the rise in deaths among Black youths, not White youths.” Bringing the discussion back to the Ad Council’s campaign at the conclusion of his article, Kessler suggests how the campaign’s misdirection actually stands in the way of effective responses: Firearms are the leading cause of deaths among teens, especially older teens. That’s very clear, especially among Black teens. A more precise statement — highlighting the risk faced by teens — might help focus attention on who the horrible toll of gun violence harms most. Inaccurate Ad Council messaging aside, given that the nature of violence perpetrated with firearms is far different and more acute than gun control advocates often portray, reality might recommend policies tailored to address individuals who commit violence with firearms rather than sweeping restrictions that impact perpetrators and the law-abiding alike. With increases in older teen homicide coinciding with an era of soft-on-crime policies, empowering law enforcement and the broader criminal justice system to adequately address those who misuse firearms would be a good place to start. While some on the left may deplore the idea of older teens and young adults being arrested and held accountable by the criminal justice system, it might be a safer option for them than allowing retaliatory cycles of violence on the streets to go unaddressed. Viewed most charitably, the Ad Council campaign merely obscures the reality of violence perpetrated with firearms and diverts resources that might have been used to address the issue to unproductive ends. However, given that NRA-ILA, the Washington Post, and others have repeatedly addressed the misleading “children” and firearms factoid, a reasonable person could conclude that all this obfuscation is the point. That person might even get the impression that these “public service announcements” are nothing more than political propaganda aimed at instilling an irrational fear of firearms with the uninformed public. After all, the Ad Council gun campaign’s “stakeholder partners” include firearm prohibition advocates Brady (formerly Handgun Control, Inc.), Michael Bloomberg-fund Everytown for Gun Safety, Giffords, and the Joyce Foundation (which funds the handgun prohibition organization Violence Policy Center). Taxpaying gun owners should know that the federal government routinely funds the Ad Council to the tune of tens of millions of dollars for various public service campaigns. Records from USASpending.gov show that in fiscal years 2022, 2023, and 2024, the federal government awarded the organization $16.4 million, $13.6 million, and $14.3 million, respectively. While these awards were not related to firearm propaganda specifically, they provide lifelines to an organization whose messaging on firearms is not only misleading but potentially counterproductive to sound public policy.

Straw Deals: The ATF is Going To GET YOU! Don't Do it. Lake County Man Facing Up To 135 Years In Federal Prison For Firearms Trafficking Wednesday, June 11, 2025 U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of Florida Ocala, Florida – United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announces the arrest of Fernando Munguia, Jr. (23, Leesburg) on an indictment charging him with nine counts of knowingly making a materially false statement in connection with the acquisition of a firearm and nine counts of causing a federal firearm licensee (FFL) to maintain false information in its official records. Each materially false statement charge is punishable by up to 10 years in federal prison; each false information count is punishable by up to 5 years’ imprisonment. In total, Munguia faces a maximum penalty of up to 135 years in federal prison. According to court records, between January 1, 2023, and December 31, 2023, Munguia illegally straw-purchased multiple firearms in the Middle District of Florida for other individuals. Nine of these firearms—along with other guns—subsequently were intercepted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on May 27, 2023, as another individual attempted to transport them from Eagle Pass, Texas, across the United States’ border into Mexico. Authorities intercepted Munguia’s nine firearms less than a month after he purchased them. A record check by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) showed that between January 2023 and November 2023, Munguia had purchased 44 firearms for a total of $23,334.25—an amount representing approximately two-thirds of his reported annual income. An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty. This case is being investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Homeland Security Investigations, and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Hannah Nowalk Watson. This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN). Updated June 12, 2025

Man Who Fatally Shot SLED K9 Sentenced to Over 12 Years for Gun Charge Wednesday, June 18, 2025 U.S. Attorney's Office, District of South Carolina COLUMBIA, S.C. —James Robert Peterson, 38, of Prosperity, has been sentenced to more than 12 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. Evidence obtained in the investigation revealed that on June 11, 2024, Peterson was found in possession of a firearm while law enforcement attempted to arrest him on a felony state warrant. He has prior convictions that prohibit him from possessing firearms. Peterson used the gun to fatally shoot South Carolina Law Enforcement Division K9 Officer Coba during the incident. United States District Judge Jacquelyn D. Austin sentenced Peterson to 150 months imprisonment, to be followed by a term of court-ordered supervision. There is no parole in the federal system. Peterson was sentenced to 33 years in state prison earlier this year for first-degree burglary, attempted murder, cruelty to a police dog, and resisting arrest with a deadly weapon. The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department, and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elle E. Klein is prosecuting the case. ### Updated June 18, 2025