The Weekly Reload Podcast

Another federal judge ruled on Friday that so-called assault weapons bans likely violate the Second Amendment. So, the Illinois ban is blocked for now. But Washington's was just signed. And Delaware's 2022 ban is still standing. Elsewhere, bans on the popular guns, including the AR-15, have been forestalled by political reality. Independence Institute's David Kopel understands the fight well havin...

The NRA's 2023 Annual Meeting was last week. The group was resurgent, and leadership got a mostly warm welcome. That doesn't mean the NRA's problems are solved. To the contrary, it still seems to be bleeding membership revenue at the same time it racks up increasing legal bills from dealing with multiple corruption suits over allegations of financial impropriety. That's why we have Frank Tait, who...

The beginning of the week featured another horrible mass shooting in America. This time at a bank in Louisville, Kentucky. That's why I wanted to bring on one of the leading experts currently studying mass shootings. Metro State University Professor James Densley is one of the co-founders of The Violence Project, which has the most detailed and comprehensive database of mass shootings dating back...

It's time for another Q&A podcast episode! This week, we're taking some of the best questions from Reload Members. Contributing Writer Jake Fogleman joins me to offer up our best answers to those questions. And those questions covered all sorts of topics. One member asked how realistic confiscation of at least some firearms, such as AR-15s, is and what protections against the federal governmen...

This week, we're discussing the tremendous effect the Supreme Court's Bruen decision has had on the lower courts in a few short months. Jake Charles, an associate professor at Pepperdine University, joins the show to give us an overview of his latest paper. In it, he comprehensively breaks down how many Second Amendment claims have been successful thus far and which ones have performed best. With...

This week, California gun owners received positive news when a federal judge ruled the state's handgun restrictions are unconstitutional. So, we decided to reach out to one of the most prominent plaintiffs in the case: YouTuber Reno May. He said he is happy with the outcome of the case. He even expressed optimism that the ruling might go into effect without an appeal. Federal District Judge Judge...

President Joe Biden announced a set of new executive orders this week that could have wide-ranging effects. But what does his order actually do? Well, that's what we brought Amy Swearer on to explain. She's the conservative Heritage Foundation's gun policy expert who regularly testifies on Capitol Hill. She said three of the initiatives have the potential to have a severe impact on gun owners acro...

On this week's episode, we're exploring a new effort to make firearms law and history a specific academic pursuit. Ashley Hlebinsky joins the show to tell us about the University of Wyoming's Firearms Research Center. She is the former curator of the Cody Firearms Museum who helped found the new center. She explains what she and a top law professor at the school hope to accomplish with the effort....

Charles Cooke is back on the show this week. The National Review senior writer is an expert on gun policy and politics. He is also a Florida Man. So, he's the perfect person to come on and talk about Governor Ron Desantis's (R.) latest push to institute new gun reforms. Cooke said Desantis's push to implement permitless gun carry and banking reforms designed to pressure financial institutions into...

This week, we're examining the way that most gun-control groups count "gun violence." Kostas Moros, a gun-rights lawyer, joins the show to discuss the piece he wrote for The Reload about why the decision to include gun-related suicides in those counts is misleading. He explained that the majority of gun deaths, and usually up to two-thirds of them, are suicides. He said gun-control activists' clai...

We're doing another unique episode this week. Instead of exploring a specific story from the week, we're taking a step back and looking at the state of the legal fight over guns. That's why I reached out to one of the best legal commentators out there: Mark W. Smith. He is an author, lawyer, and host of The Four Boxes Diner on YouTube. Smith gives us the state of play around gun restrictions in fe...

This week we're focused on YouTube's erratic moderation of silencers. The social media giant began deleting videos and even whole channels that featured silencers, often called suppressors, from their site a few weeks back. Then, after public outcry and an inquiry from The Reload, the company reversed course. But the damage to trust many gun creators had in the platform was already done by then. I...

This week we're trying something a little bit different. Usually, we have a guest on to talk about a recent gun story we've been reporting on. I thought it would be a good time to shake things up a little bit. When New York Times best-selling fantasy author Larry Correia's agent reached out about his new non-fiction book on the Second Amendment, it seemed like a good idea. Correia was amenable. So...

This week we have one of my favorite guests back on the show: Cam Edwards of Bearing Arms. There are few people who follow gun politics as closely as Cam. And even fewer are capable of the intelligent analysis he commonly offers. So, I'm glad he's back to talk about the complicated ins and outs of the ATF's recent rule proposals and public statements. The ATF clarified several points regarding its...

This week, we're diving into the details of the ATF's pistol brace ban. That's why we have pistol brace inventor and SB Tactical owner Alex Bosco on the show. He gave his view on how many guns will be affected by the ban, whether any braced guns avoid the prohibition, and the legal case he's building against it. Bosco said he believes there are at least 10 million braces in circulation despite the...

The podcast is back after a holiday and illness break. This week, we're covering the pair of gun insurance mandates that have recently gone into effect. R.J. Lehmann, a senior fellow at the International Center for Law and Economics, joins us to discuss the details of New Jersey's gun-carry insurance mandate and San Jose, California's gun ownership insurance requirement. He said the requirements,...

Last week, we broke news of the CDC removing gun defense use estimates and a review paper it commissioned from its website after meeting privately with a group of advocates. This week, we have one of those advocates on the show. Mark Bryant, executive director of the Gun Violence Archive, was involved in the private meeting with CDC officials. He attacked Florida State University criminologist Gar...

The CDC came under fire this week after we broke news they had deleted defensive gun use (DGU) stats from their website under pressure from gun-control advocates. It's an extremely important story, but one that involves some complicated science. So, I wanted to bring on somebody who has extensive knowledge of the topic to help us get a better understanding of the controversy. That's why I asked Ma...

Oregon's gun-control ballot initiative has put it at the center of the fight over guns in America. As the political battle ended with victory for Measure 114 and the deadline to implement a non-existent permit-to-purchase system closed in, a new front opened in the courts. Sam Paredes, a Gun Owners of America (GOA) board member and treasurer of the Gun Owners Foundation, was on the frontline of th...

The race that will decide the final balance of power in the Senate will be decided in a matter of days. The contest in Georgia between incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Hershel Walker won't determine who controls the Senate since Democrats have already accomplished that, but it will determine how easily they can move forward with President Joe Biden's executive and judic...

This week on the podcast, we're discussing one of the many lawsuits currently trying to take down New York's latest gun-carry restrictions. Joining us on the show is Tzvi Waldman to discuss the New York State Jewish Gun Club's challenge to the ban on guns in places of worship. He argued the law, which keeps even those who are licensed by the state and authorized by their faith leader to carry from...

The election is over, and it's time to read the tea leaves. That's why I'm bringing Cam Edward from Bearing Arms back on the show to interpret the results. How did the races we were watching turn out? How much impact did guns have on them? How much impact will the election have on guns? Cam says gun-rights advocates fared better than Republicans. While Republicans couldn't regain control of the Se...

The midterm elections are upon us. As we've discussed previously, Americans are far less interested in gun policy than they were this summer. So, how will we be able to tell the effects of guns on the election? Axios Senior Political Correspondent Josh Kraushaar joins the show to talk about where we should focus our attention. There are a few races where guns are playing a more prominent role. The...

The midterms are just over a week away, and the outcome will have a significant impact on the likely hood of new federal gun restrictions. If Democrats hold control of the House and gain seats in the Senate, the possibility they blow up the filibuster and pass new gun laws rises. If Republicans gain control of either house of Congress, the likelihood of new gun laws falls to near zero. The gun gro...

The election is fast approaching, and they will determine control of Congress as well as the future of federal gun legislation. So, this week, we've got Cam Edwards of Bearing Arms on the show to talk about the impact of guns on the midterms. Or, really, whether they will have much of an impact. After all, the most recent polling shows Americans have lost interest in the issue as the election draw...