Proposed rule would tighten gun tracing
The Justice Department on Friday issued a proposed rule that would broaden the definition of a firearm, requiring some gunmaking kits to include a serial number as the Biden administration moves to combat “ghost guns.”
It comes several weeks after President Biden promised a crackdown on “ghost guns,” homemade firearms that lack serial numbers used to trace them and are often purchased without a background check.
For years, federal and local law enforcement officials have been sounding the alarm about what they say is a loophole in federal firearms law, allowing people who are generally prohibited from owning guns to obtain them by making the weapons themselves. Ghost guns have increasingly been turning up at crime scenes and being purchased from gang members and other criminals by undercover federal agents.
Under the proposed rule, retailers would be required to run background checks before selling some kits that contain the parts necessary for someone to make a gun at home.
The rule also sets forth several factors to determine whether manufacturers would also be required to include a serial number, a senior Justice Department official told the Associated Press.
Once the proposed rule is published in the Federal Register, the public will have 90 days to submit comments.
ALABAMA
Cop convicted of murder
Jurors convicted an Alabama police officer of murder Friday in the shooting of a suicidal man who was holding a gun to his own head.
Huntsville police officer William “Ben” Darby was indicted in the killing of Jeffrey Parker in 2018. Prosecutors argued Darby, 27, killed Parker without cause, while the defense said the shooting was justified because Parker posed a threat to Darby and other officers.
The conviction carries a sentence to 20 years to life, said District Attorney Rob Broussard.
The guilty verdict left police “in the first stages of shock,” police Chief Mark McMurray said in a statement.
“While we thank the jury for their service in this difficult case, I do not believe Officer Darby is a murderer,” McMurray said.
Darby shot Parker while responding to a call after the man phoned 911 saying he was armed and planned to
kill himself. A onetime colleague, Genisha Pegues, testified that while Parker was upset, he was talking to her and posed no immediate threat despite a gun held to his head.
Jurors saw video of the shooting taken from police body cameras. Darby testified he feared seeing “one of my officers” getting hurt and fired after Parker only shrugged when ordered to put down the gun he was holding to his head.
GEORGIA
Mayor declines reelection run
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said Friday she has wrestled since her first year in office with whether to seek a second term, and this week she made a final decision to step
aside even as she insisted she doesn’t know what she’ll do next.
“Leadership sometimes is about passing off the baton,” Bottoms said a day after releasing an electionyear surprise public letter and video announcing that she wouldn’t run for reelection this year.
It was a stunning announcement for the 51yearold who is just the second Black woman to lead Atlanta and who less than a year ago was among the women President Biden considered as a possible running mate.
Bottoms called it a decision rooted in her faith, and pushed back at any notion that she is afraid of a bruising campaign.
“There is a divine voice that lives inside each of us … that may not make sense to anyone
else . ... But when you know what you know, it becomes less and less important what other people think,” Bottoms said.
The mayor emphasized she will finish out her term, which runs through early January.
NEPAL
25th Everest ascent for guide
A Sherpa guide scaled Mount Everest for the 25th time on Friday, breaking his own record for the most ascents of the world’s highest peak.
Kami Rita and 11 other Sherpa guides are the first group of climbers to reach the summit this year and were fixing the ropes on the icy route so that hundreds of other climbers can scale the peak later this month.
Everest was closed to
climbing last year on both its southern side, which is in Nepal, and its northern side, which is in China, because of the coronavirus pandemic. Nepal has issued climbing permits this year to 408 foreign climbers despite a surging COVID19 outbreak.
Rita, 51, first scaled Everest in 1994 and has been making the trip nearly every year since then. He is one of many Sherpa guides whose expertise and skills are vital to the safety and success of the hundreds of climbers who head to Nepal each year seeking to stand on top of the 29,032foot mountain.
In addition to his 25 times to the top of Everest, Rita has scaled several other peaks that are among the world’s highest, including K2.