The Weekly Reload Podcast

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.

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Special 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.

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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.

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Special 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.

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This week, a jury found the President's son guilty of federal gun felonies.

We've got one of the country's best and most prolific gun writers on the show to discuss that development. Cam Edwards is the editor of Bearing Arms and the host of Cam and Company. He said he wasn't surprised by Hunter Biden's conviction but wasn't necessarily celebrating it.

He said the evidence against Hunter was formidable and noted the vast majority of federal charges that make it to trial end in a guilty plea or conviction. Still, he questioned the underlying law that Hunter was convicted on. He said the First Son has a real chance at a successful Second Amendment challenge.

Cam also gave us insight into his recent interview with new NRA CEO Doug Mills. It was one of Mills's first long-form interviews, and Cam said the venue sent as much of a message as anything they discussed. That's because Cam has been a vocal critic of the mismanagement and corruption of the gun group's previous leadership.

Still, Cam said he was also encouraged by what Mills did say about his commitment to transparency and change. But he is also hoping to see more concrete signs of movement from the NRA before fully returning to the fold.

Special Guest: John Correia.

Contributing writer Jake Fogleman and I walk through the Supreme Court's ruling striking down the ATF's bump stock ban as unlawful. We also discuss what the ruling might mean for President Biden's gun executive orders and what it might say about the Justices' appetite for striking down machine gun bans. Plus, we cover the interesting politics of a gun tax ballot initiative set to go before Colorado voters this fall and recap my experience at the National Journalism Center's range day.

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This week, we're discussing the new restrictions YouTube has put on gun content.

That's why we've got the head of one of the largest gun channels on the platform. John Correia runs Active Self Protection, which has generated over 1.8 billion views on videos analyzing real-world self-defense encounters. He's also spent nearly a decade dealing with YouTube's varied and often vague moderation guidelines.

The new rules primarily target creates who build their own firearms or use automatic fire in video. But they also affect anyone who uses "high capacity" magazines in their videos, without explaining what meets that standard.

Correia said he's not sure how much of an impact the new rules will have on his channel, which already sees its content age-gated on a regular basis. But he argued they would probably have a significant effect on some of the largest gun channels on the platform. He also argued YouTube has a right to police its website as it pleases, but the company bowing to pressure from gun-control groups and politicians made the move more concerning.

He explains how Active Self Protection deals with the constant problem of social media moderation, given its incredible impact on the business. Correia said the company has spent more time and effort building out its own operations to supplement the revenue it brings in from YouTube. He argued that was the only practical way forward for many creators who focus on topics social media companies tend to be squeamish about.

Special Guest: John Correia.

This week, we saw the first felony conviction of a former president.

Obviously, the verdict will have all sorts of complications and consequences for Donald Trump. One of them is the fact he'll now be a prohibited person. He won't be allowed to buy or even possess guns.

To discuss the details of what that will look like, we have federal litigator and legal commentator Gabriel Malor on the show. He walks through how Trump's New York convictions trigger the federal felon-in-possession ban and the same ban in his home state of Florida. He also talks about how Trump can legally transfer his guns to friends or family, but also can't be in a position where he even just has access to them.

That might cause issues with his armed Secret Service detail, but Malor said that's unlikely.

He also gave an overview of how Trump might get his gun rights back. The most likely course is to win on appeal, but he could also try to have his record expunged after serving his sentence. Or, one of the Second Amendment challenges brought by a similarly situated non-violent felon could undo the federal ban altogether.

Special Guest: Gabriel Malor.

Contributing writer Jake Fogleman and I discuss Donald Trump’s 34 felony convictions and what they mean for his position as the gun rights candidate in the 2024 Presidential election race. We also talk about the Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling in favor of the NRA’s free speech claims against New York officials. Plus, we cover the narrow loss of a prominent guntuber who tried to unseat an incumbent Republican over a gun control vote in a Texas congressional primary.

This week, we're talking to one of the men who led the effort to reform the NRA from within.

Phillip Journey has been an outspoken critic of the corruption that unfolded at the gun group during Wayne LaPierre's tenure, and he's been trying to fix the problems from within for nearly half a decade now. That work appears to be coming to fruition now. He and other reformers propelled alternative candidates to three of the NRA's top four leadership positions last Monday, including LaPierre's old position.

Journey expressed optimism about the outcome of the leadership elections. He believes the NRA has a real chance to turn itself around and avoid a government-appointed monitor in the second half of its New York corruption trial. Although, he also admitted he doesn't have direct say over how exactly the group will move forward in a number of areas.

He also cautioned that the NRA doesn't have a ton of time to work with. The group's financials are worsening, and those woes even forced it to sell off $44 million in assets at the beginning of the year. Journey urged people to help the organization through the downturn so reformers could have a chance to enact their planned changes.

Special Guest: Phillip Journey.