Triggered

Gun rights—and the regulation of such—is one of the most divisive issues in the U.S., right? Or is it? According to Gallup, the majority of us (63%) are dissatisfied with current U.S. gun laws. Even among Republicans, there’s been a one-year, five-point decrease in satisfaction. Most rational people agree that gun violence is approaching crisis levels in the U.S., and something ought to be done about it. But despite the public urgency behind the issue, it seems like so little gets done, and every day another 320 people—more than 20 of them children—are shot somewhere in America. A piece by Matt Lewis in The Daily Beast today captures how so many of us stuck in the middle feel. At the bare minimum, our leaders owe us “some additional compassion, reverence, and (yes) responsibility,” Lewis points out. Not posing with a weapon “like it’s a trophy,” and “using responsible rhetoric about guns” are two good places to start. We won’t be able to solve any serious problems without first treating them with the seriousness they deserve. —Melissa Amour, Managing Editor

• U.S. arrests two for allegedly operating secret Chinese police outpost in New York —CBS News

• Evan Gershkovich, reporter jailed by Russia, appeals espionage arrest —The Washington Post

• Moderates team up on the debt ceiling —The Dispatch

• Republicans object to replacing Feinstein on Judiciary panel —Associated Press

• Darfur on edge as violence spreads amid Sudan power struggle —Al Jazeera

• Putin, Zelensky rally troops with war poised for new phase —Associated Press

• DeSantis moves to exert control over Disney World rides and monorail —NPR

• Montana House joins Senate in endorsing first-of-its-kind state TikTok ban —Three Forks Voice

• Akron grand jury declines to indict officers in Jayland Walker case —The Washington Post

• Stop the Steal founder Ali Alexander apologizes amid allegations of texting teens —Rolling Stone

‘This could be your child’

An elderly, white Kansas City homeowner who shot a 16-year-old Black teen after he rang his doorbell last Thursday has been charged with assault in the first degree and armed criminal action. Andrew Lester shot Ralph Yarl twice—once in the head and once in arm—through a glass door after Yarl mistakenly arrived at the wrong address to pick up his younger brothers, who were waiting for him at a home about a block away. Yarl survived the shooting and is recovering. A similar case occurred in New York on Saturday evening, when a driver accidentally pulled into the wrong driveway and was shot and killed by the homeowner. —New York Post

• What is going on? It’s basically “stand your ground” taken to its ugliest extreme…and leaving no room for human error. But in some cases, it’s not as simple as a fearful homeowner making a tragically bad split-second decision. The Clay County, Missouri, prosecutor’s office says the Yarl case has a “racial component.” And in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott has been criticized for considering granting clemency to Daniel Perry, who said, “I might have to kill a few people on my way to work,” shortly before shooting and killing a Black Lives Matter protester. —The Atlantic

• Street violence, mass shootings, gun accidents, suicide… Add them all up, and gun violence is now the leading cause of death among children in the U.S., according to the Gun Violence Archive. In 2022, 1,676 children were killed in gun-related deaths—the highest number the nonprofit has ever recorded and an increase from the 1,573 child gun deaths it recorded in 2021. In fact, the number of children and teens killed by gunfire in the U.S. increased 50% between 2019 and 2021, according to a Pew Research Center analysis. —Pew Research

• Some signs of hope? In D.C., a bill gaining traction in the Senate would close a loophole that currently allows gun sales to proceed if a background check isn’t completed within a specific time period, even if the gun buyer isn’t legally allowed to purchase a gun in the first place. And in Texas, after years of little progress, gun control and safety advocates see some small openings for dialogue in Austin. Legislation that would limit access to firearms or ammo likely won’t become law anytime soon, but these advocates say there’s an emerging appetite for finding some middle ground. Middle ground? Yes, please. —The Texas Tribune

MORE: Max Burns: Gun control after Louisville shooting has a chance —CNN

‘Lies have consequences’

Fox News agreed today to settle the defamation lawsuit filed against the network by Dominion Voting Systems for a stunning $787.5 million. Dominion sued Fox News and its parent corporation in 2021, claiming the network knowingly broadcast lies aimed at undercutting public confidence in the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. The voting tech company said the lies caused more than $1 billion in damage and led to its employees receiving threats. The settlement came just hours before trial testimony that was expected to feature a parade of high-profile Fox News personalities and leaders. It’s rare for defamation cases to make it to trial, and the outcome could have had major implications for misinformation and freedom of the press. Fox wasn’t willing to take the gamble. —Delaware News Journal

MORE: Ed Board: The lies of Fox News hurt far more than just Dominion Voting Systems —Times Leader

Squires: Election denialism hasn’t died. It’s gone down ballot

“In some state and local offices across the country, election denialism is still recasting how elections are conducted, in ways big and small. With far less effort than it would take on a national level, Republican officials are gumming up the mechanics of local election administration, making it harder to cast a vote, harder to tally votes, and harder to get results in a timely fashion. Officials are policing elections, establishing task forces and election police units that are supposedly there to root out fraud but could have the effect of intimidating voters from exercising their civic right.” —Camille Squires in The New York Times

Camille Squires is an editor at Bolts, a magazine that covers elections and voting rights at the local level.

MORE: ‘Alternate’ Trump electors in Georgia saw illegal acts in 2020 vote, DA says —Bloomberg

The future is independent

The people with the most power and the biggest mouths may capture the majority of Americans’ attention, but a growing number of us want something else: independence. Recent Gallup polling found that a record 49% of Americans define themselves as politically independent, a number equivalent to the two major parties put together. This trend, which threatens the might and money of the two-party system, isn’t likely to ebb anytime soon. “It was never unusual for younger adults to have higher percentages of independents than older adults,” Gallup analyst Jeff Jones says. “What is unusual is that as Gen X and Millennials get older, they are staying independent rather than picking a party, as older generations tended to do.” —Axios

MORE:

• Americans like saying they’re independent—while voting as partisans —The Washington Post

• Why these Democrats are defecting to the Republican Party —Vox

• Austin Sarat: Will the Republican Party’s embrace of messianic politics destroy the party or American democracy? —Verdict

• Jennifer Rubin: Tennessee's expulsion of two lawmakers might reshape politics —The Washington Post

• Report finds democracy for Black Americans is under attack —CBS News

Way: A conundrum for democracy 

“[I]f Trump and his supporters perceive that their threats of violence are effective, they are likely to engage in more violent behavior. In this way, the failure to prosecute Trump would create a vicious cycle that does tremendous harm to the democratic process. The prosecution of Trump thus presents a significant test of American democracy. Although the indictment is almost certainly justified, legal action against a major candidate for office in a context of growing polarization and right-wing support for violence cannot be taken lightly. Acquiescing to violent extortion from a former president and his supporters, however, is no solution at all.” —Lucan Ahmad Way in Foreign Affairs

Lucan Ahmad Way is a professor of political science at the University of Toronto and the co-author of “Revolution and Dictatorship: The Violent Origins of Durable Authoritarianism.”

MORE: GOP lawmakers descend on NYC to challenge Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg —New York Daily News

Ben-Ghiat: Attacks on education are part of the authoritarian playbook

“All of the fronts of this ongoing war draw on authoritarian history: the book bans, the censorship of curriculums, the surveillance of syllabi and lesson plans, the demonization of professors, teachers, and librarians as perverts and radical leftist indoctrination machines, the assertion of ‘parents’ rights’ as a cover for right-wing activism, and the establishment of pathways for a culture of informing to take hold.” —Ruth Ben-Ghiat in Lucid

Ruth Ben-Ghiat is a professor of history and Italian studies at New York University and the author of “Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present.”

MORE: Censorship sees pushback from teens and authors in Pennsylvania —Bucks County Courier Times

I have an eerie feeling that our country is heading toward a type of autocracy, and both parties are nudging us this way. As much as we decry the former president’s methods, I wonder if the penchant over the last several years to use “executive orders” to bypass the legislative process isn’t in and of itself a sort of use of autocratic powers.

I realize the legislature is pretty much polarized and in gridlock, and that the executive is issuing orders out of frustration with Congress’ inaction, but could legislation by executive order only push us further towards authoritarian rule?

I suspect the framers of the Constitution thought they were establishing a system of checks and balances, but those checks have been eroded a great deal, and those balances are sorely out of whack. Just a thought. —Read G., Utah

The views expressed in "What's Your Take?" are submitted by readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff or the Renew America Foundation.