The Weekly Reload Podcast

Lara Smith joins the show this week. She's the national spokesperson for a stereotype-defying group: The Liberal Gun Club.

Smith talks at length about the group's philosophy. Rather than focusing on gun bans or restrictions, they believe in addressing the root causes of violence. They lobby against strict new gun-control laws and for alternative approaches to solving gun violence.

She said the group has grown substantially over the past two years as the number of new gun owners has increased, especially those from demographics that skew more liberal. Smith argued that trend will impact not just her group but American politics at large. As the group grows, they expect their unique identity and approach will make them particularly influential with Democrats other gun-rights groups have little sway over.

Smith said The Liberal Gun Club is not just about lobbying, but also community building. She said members fall all along the left side of the political spectrum. However, they all share one thing in common: an appreciation for guns and the shooting sports.

Plus, Contributing Writer Jake Fogleman gives an update on the latest NRA drama that's developing just a few weeks before the group's first Annual Meeting in three years.

Special Guest: Lara Smith.

Philip Smith of the National African American Gun Association (NAAGA) joins the podcast to discuss President Joe Biden's recent moves to change ATF leadership.

Biden recently picked a second nominee to head the agency. Then he demoted the acting director and replaced him with a third candidate. Smith said NAAGA is unhappy that Marvin Richardson, a Black agent with 33 years of experience, has now been passed over three times for White candidates who are less qualified for the permanent director position.

Smith said Richardson is well-liked by ATF agents and the industry alike. He argued Richardson is a non-partisan with the proper skill set to run the agency in the long term. Smith's comments were backed up by the Black Agents and Professionals Law Enforcement Association which spoke out in support of Richardson. 

He said the President is wrong to push aside Richardson in favor of other candidates. He said NAAGA was concerned with the racial dynamics of the pick but also the political implications of it. Both of the permanent director nominees Biden has chosen over Richardson have established track records as gun-control advocates. He said the President should not only reinstate Richardson to acting director but put him up as the permanent director nominee.

Smith also explained NAAGA's view on permitless gun-carry and whether the group plans to become more politically involved as it continues to grow.

Plus, Contributing Writer Jake Fogleman and I talk about what the newest video from the set of Rust tells us about Alec Baldwin's shooting.

Special Guest: Philip Smith.

Cam Edwards of Bearing Arms joins the show this week after the ATF saw a significant shakeup.

After President Biden announced he would nominate a new permanent director last week, he took to punishing the acting director. Marvin Richardson, a 30-year career agent, was moved down to acting deputy director for the last few months of his time at the agency. The move comes just a month after gun-control advocates and The New York Times attacked Richardson as too friendly towards the gun industry.

Cam argues those complaints were weak. He says the gun-control groups want an ideologue in charge of the ATF which is why they backed David Chipman's failed nomination and are backing the nominations of Steve Dettelbach. He said Richardson fell short in their eyes, and ultimately the President's, by not approaching the gun industry as an adversary.

But Cam sees the move to demote Richardson as one that will ultimately harm the President's latest ATF nominee's chances of getting through confirmation. He noted complaints from the National African American Gun Association about Richardson, who is Black, being passed over twice for White candidates whose most recent experience was in the political realm rather than law enforcement. Given how difficult it is to confirm an ATF director in an evenly divided Senate, and the fact Biden already failed to do so once before, any additional controversy could sink Dettebach's bid.

Plus, Contributing Writer Jake Fogleman and I discuss a top Florida Democrat's new gun-rights lawsuit against the Biden Administration.

Special Guest: Cam Edwards.

President Biden went hard after "ghost guns" and the companies that make them this week. So, on this episode, we've got one of the most prominent men who is squarely in his sights: Defense Distributed's Cody Wilson.

Wilson is a pioneer in 3D-printed guns having developed the first prototype called The Liberator. His Ghost Gunner mini-CNC machine is among the popular ways to finish the unfinished gun receivers commonly available on the market.

As such, he read through the entire 364-page final guidance on the new ban from the ATF. We discuss the ins and out of what exactly is illegal now, how that will impact the firearms industry, and some of the surprises in the final regulation.

Wilson says he feels the regulations are unjust and unconstitutional. He said he plans to file suit against the administration over the changes. 

Plus, Contributing Writer Jake Fogleman and I talk about what we've found out about President Biden's new ATF director nominee Steve Dettelbach.

Special Guest: Cody Wilson.

Author and Washington Post Columnist Radley Balko joins the show this week to talk about how police militarization impacts gun rights.

Balko has spent a career documenting questionable police tactics, and he provides some unique insight into the Amir Locke case. Minneapolis Police killed Locke during a no-knock raid in February because he reached for a gun during the confusion caused by his apartment door being kicked in without warning. Locke wasn't the subject of the warrant and had no record, but he ended up dead.

Now, the police officer who shot him has been cleared of any wrongdoing.

He is far from the only person who has had their life or freedom taken without recourse as the result of drawing a gun during a no-knock raid. Balko gives background on a vast collection of people who have found themselves in the same situation.

We also discuss the delicate balance between respecting police, attempting to make their jobs safer, and upholding Americans' civil liberties. Balko explains his view on how gun-rights proponents should react when those priorities come into conflict. And he shares real-world examples of it happening, including the use of dubious ballistic matching evidence against criminal defendants.

Plus, Contributing Writer Jake Fogleman and I discuss California Senator Diane Feinstein's (D.) solution to last week's deadly shootout in Sacramento. And we have another member segment too!

Special Guest: Radley Balko.

Florida is going to have a special session where Governor Ron DeSantis (R.) says he hopes permitless gun-carry is added to the agenda. So, who better to bring on the show to discuss this news than Florida Man Charles Cooke?

The National Review senior writer joined the podcast to give some insight into the state of the proposal. He said it will likely be an uphill battle to get the policy through the legislature even with the backing of DeSantis. He also explained the unique nature of Florida's gun laws which lag behind those of other red states despite the Sunshine State's reputation as the "Gunshine State."

Cooke also weighed in on the success of the permitless carry movement thus far. He said the momentum generated by the incredible sweep gun-rights advocates have been able to pull of in such a short period of time will generate enough pressure to get the policy passed in Florida. But, he said, it might not be until next year.

We also look at what Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation hearings revealed about her views on the Second Amendment.  She has a sparse record on guns, but she was nominated by a staunch gun-control proponent and the gun-control groups all support her. However, there is some reason to believe she may take a more expansive view of the Second Amendment than previous Democratic nominees.

Plus, Contributing Writer Jake Fogleman looks at new data on first-time gun owners and we have another member segment!

Special Guest: Charles Cooke.

Nationally-syndicated radio host and author Erick Erickson joins the show this week to talk about the Georgia election, NRA, and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Erickson, who lives in Georgia, has closely followed the gubernatorial election. The Republican primary has been particularly heated this year with former-president Donald Trump enticing former-senator David Purdue to run against incumbent Brian Kemp as a form of payback over rebuffed attempts to flip the 2020 election results. With Kemp facing stiff opposition he's turned back to a policy he first ran on in 2018: permitless gun-carry.

Whether Kemp can get the bill over the finish line before the election comes will have a big impact on the race, according to Erickson. He also weighs in on the claim by Perdue and likely Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams that Kemp sat on the proposal until it was politically advantageous. He said even if those claims are true, it may not matter if Kemp ultimately delivers which he seems to be on the cusp of doing.

Erickson also talked about the idea the gun-rights movement has been so successful it's started to lead to problems. He cites the corruption allegations weighing down the NRA as one example, but also pointed to some more questionable gun bills making it into law in deep-red states.

He said the gun-rights movement should refocus its efforts on fighting strict gun laws in deep-blue states rather than passing symbolic or even counter-productive laws in places they've already enacted a myriad of pro-gun policies.

Erickson also weighed in on why he isn't convinced by President Biden's Supreme Court nominee saying she believes in the Heller precedent. He said he doesn't trust her not to overturn the landmark gun case given the chance.

Plus, Contributing Writer Jake Fogleman joins the show to talk about how armed Ukrainian civilians helped fend off a mechanized Russian assault on a key farm town.

And we speak to another Reload Member this week. Dennis Chapman, a lawyer and author living in Virginia, joins the show to talk about how he became interested in guns to the point of writing a book about the AR-15.

Special Guest: Erick Erickson.

Rhode Island's statewide stun-gun ban was overturned by a federal court this week. It was the last of its kind, and the latest to fall in what's becoming a systemic dismantling of the prohibitions across the country.

The effort to liberalize stun gun and taser laws wasn't undertaken by any of the major gun-rights groups or civil-rights organizations. It hasn't been backed by anyone with deep pockets. Instead, it's been something of a passion project for a lawyer who started off with a $10,000 budget.

That lawyer is Alan Beck, and he's our guest on this week's episode of the podcast.

Beck describes what motivated him to get involved in stun-gun litigation. He also explains how a key 2016 Supreme Court decision added fuel to the fire which swept through multiple state and local bans.

He explained his strategy for tearing down the prohibitions and how that same strategy could foreshadow what's possible for other areas of Second Amendment litigation. He also details how places like Hawaii have tried to push back against the courts striking down their stun-gun bans by imposing restrictions just short of prohibitions. And he says that's exactly how states forced to give up their restrictive gun-carry laws could react.

Speaking of Hawaii, Beck has also filed a number of suits against that state's outlier gun laws. The most famous of which is Young v. Hawaii where he was able to convince a lower court to toss the state's total ban on open carry before being reversed at the Ninth Circuit. That case is now pending appeal at the Supreme Court. We talk about why Hawaii has similarly been neglected by most gun-rights groups despite having some of the strictest gun laws in the country.

Reload member Nathan Gorenstein also joins the show for a member segment. The former Philadelphia Inquirer editor shares how he became interested in guns, and how legendary gun designer John Moses Browning piqued his interest enough to write an entire book about him.

Plus, contributing writer Jake Fogleman and I discuss the latest state to adopt permitless gun-carry.

Special Guest: Alan Beck.

We're doing something different this week.

Instead of interviewing an expert on a single topic, we're letting Reload members interview us on a bunch of different topics. It's our first Q&A episode!

Contributing Writer Jake Fogleman and I answer questions on a wide range of stories. What is going on with gun laws and armed civilians in Ukraine? How could it affect American gun politics?

How much control does Wayne LaPierre have over the NRA board?

What's happening with President Biden's pistol brace ban proposal? How does grandfathering play into his plan?

What would it take to get a national reciprocity bill? When could gun owners see carry bans or AR-15 bans come to an end? What effect could the Supreme Court's gun-carry case have on that timeline? How might that same Supreme Court ruling affect demand for guns in deep blue states?

Plus, what's the best way to improve media coverage of gun issues throughout the country?

The NRA will not be forced to close down due to the New York Attorney General's corruption suit.

However, the case remains active. So, former NRA board member Rocky Marshall joined the show this week to discuss the internal fight over the corruption allegations against NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre and other members of leadership.

Marshall is one of the few board members to publicly oppose LaPierre and make efforts to remove him from leadership. Last year, he became the first person to run against LaPierre for Executive Vice President.

He said he is glad the Attorney General won't be able to shutter the organization. He also said he believes the evidence shows LaPierre did divert large sums of NRA money to his own personal expenses. Marshall argued the group has been seriously harmed by that corruption and must be reformed if it hopes to survive.

But the board remains almost entirely behind LaPierre. Marshall lost the election to LaPierre in a landslide, and he wasn't renominated to run for the board again this year. Plus, NRA lawyers have accused him of trying to take over control of the NRA for himself.

Marshall said the board is effectively controlled by a small number of board members who are on many of the most important board committees. He argued that group of LaPierre loyalists controls the board nomination process, which goes through the board's nominating committee, and forces internal critics off their committee positions and the board as a whole.

He said the only hope for the NRA is a member-led reform movement and said that's what he is focusing his efforts on now.

Plus, Contributing Writer Jake Fogleman and I discuss where President Biden's Supreme Court nominee may end up on gun law.

Special Guest: Rocky Marshall.