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--:-- John Bickley: The U.S. Supreme Court issued a significant ruling Thursday on Second Amendment rights, striking down a gun control law in New York. The court showed just how out of step the anti-gun left is, not only with the Constitution, but with the American people. How broadly will this ruling change gun laws across the U.S.? I'm Daily Wire, Editor-in-Chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Friday, June 24th, and this is Morning Wire. Five major U.S. cities are on their way to setting homicide records. We look into the reasons for the double-digit increases. And the Biden administration is facing criticism for its investigation into Border Patrol agents falsely accused of whipping migrants at the southern border last year. We're suing them, taking them to court. They owe us the docs, and they're going to comp them up. We speak to a former DHS official who's heading up the lawsuit against the administration. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
--:-- John Bickley: On Thursday, the Supreme Court issued a monumental ruling on the Second Amendment that could have nationwide implications, striking down a century-old New York law that prevented citizens from carrying firearms in public. Here with more on the case and what many are hailing as a victory for gun rights is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So Cabot, first walk us through this case, then we'll get into what it means for gun owners. So it's important first to understand the law in question, in this case, New York's statewide regulations on who can and cannot carry firearms concealed. For decades, New Yorkers wanting to get a permit to carry a gun outside their home would have to apply for a permit and then demonstrate, quote, proper cause and good moral character. Essentially, they had to prove to the state that they had a specific reason, like a stalker or abusive ex, to need a firearm for self-defense.
--:-- John Bickley: Right. So tell us about that decision.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, essentially, the court said that it's unlawful to make people have to prove that they should be able to exercise their Second Amendment rights outside the home. On that note, I talked to Eric Pratt, the senior VP at Gun Owners of America. They're one of the groups that submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court for this case. Really, the issue was, should a law-abiding person have to show just cause? That's the term in the New York law. Or in other words, should you have to show that you somehow have a greater need to protect yourself than anyone else? You know, we don't force people to jump over hurdles like that before they exercise other rights in the Bill of Rights. And we certainly shouldn't do that with the Second Amendment which protects the God-given right of self-defense.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Obviously pro-Second Amendment groups like Pratt celebrated the case as a monumental victory for gun owners. They say that criminals were already carrying guns illegally, regardless of what the law said, and that the only people harmed by restrictive measures like this one in New York were, by definition, law-abiding citizens. But there was still plenty of opposition, especially among Democrats. Their general message was that given recent mass shootings and increased violent crime rates, we shouldn't be allowing more people to carry firearms. President Biden called the ruling deeply disappointing, while New York Mayor Eric Adams said that it would make New Yorkers less safe. Here's New York Governor Kathy Hochul saying the ruling is out of touch with modern America.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And I would like to point out to the Supreme Court justices that the only weapons at the time were muskets. I'm prepared to go back to muskets.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But for now, New York will have to start issuing concealed carry permits to citizens. Now, what does this mean for gun owners in other states? Yeah, right now, eight states, including California, New Jersey and Maryland, have what we call may-issue permitting policies like the one in New York. The expectation right now is that some of those states, though no longer able to deny carry permits, will pass new laws to severely restrict where people can carry in the first place, even if they have a permit. To that point, I talked to Amy Swears. She's a legal fellow at the Mies Center for Legal and Judicial Studies.
--:-- Amy Swears: In terms of restrictions on where people can carry, essentially saying, okay, you can have a permit, but you can't use public transportation. If there's more than three people, it's a First Amendment gathering and you can't carry there either. You know, if you're in a public place that sells food or water, you know, good luck. You can't carry there. And I think at the end of the day, you may see some states try to do just that, to draw as narrowly as possible the confines in which people can carry in public or to put as many financial and time burdens as possible between them.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So really a consequential ruling that could have serious repercussions for millions of gun owners. Sounds that way. Cabot, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anytime.
--:-- John Bickley: That was Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips. Coming up, the crime problem in U.S. cities is getting worse. You can get this show and all of the content you love wherever you are all on the Daily Wire app. Even if you're not a Daily Wire member, you'll be the first to know what's trending with mobile notifications for the latest news. And you'll get content from all of your favorite Daily Wire shows. Download the Daily Wire app and keep up with the facts no matter where your day takes you.
--:-- John Bickley: Five major U.S. cities are on pace to exceed their already high homicide numbers from last year. Atlanta, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, and D.C. Here to discuss the situation is Daily Wire senior editor Ash Short.
--:-- Ash Short: So Ash, murders are on pace to exceed the 2021 numbers in a variety of big cities. What do the numbers look like?
--:-- John Bickley: Well, the numbers don't look good. Milwaukee recorded the largest year-over-year increase in homicides, with 96 homicides through June 17th, compared to 77 during the same period last year. So that's an increase of 24.7%. In March, a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge actually called the situation a crisis. Keep in mind, Milwaukee was one of the cities that cut police personnel in the wake of the 2020 riots, and the city saw about a 70% increase in homicide that year. So this increase is coming on the heels of an even steeper increase. But other cities are seeing increases in homicides over the last year as well. For example, Washington D.C. is 13 above this time last year, Atlanta is up 13, Baltimore is up 7, and Los Angeles is up 7.3%.
--:-- Ash Short: Now, are police making any predictions about whether this trend will continue or level out? Based on the numbers so far in these major cities, we might see a bigger increase in homicides between this year and last year than we saw between 2021 and 2020. So homicides in the U.S. spiked nearly 30% in 2020 over 2019. Then in 2021, they increased 5% over the 2020 numbers. We may be looking at a 5% or higher increase between this year and last.
--:-- John Bickley: And what do we know about the demographics of this crime wave? The largest increases in homicides beginning in 2020 were among Black Americans. Other races saw increases in homicides as well, but not nearly to the same extent. For example, 2,457 more Black Americans were killed in 2020 than in 2019. And there were nearly 3,000 more Blacks killed than whites in 2020.
--:-- Ash Short: And there's been a lot of speculation that this is due to police holding back in majority Black neighborhoods. Nationally, Democrats are walking back the defund the police messaging. But behind the scenes, in some places, the rhetoric still stands. Police are still very aware of the risks of making a wrong move with a black suspect, and they say that's stopping them from being proactive in majority black neighborhoods. There are also a few remaining initiatives associated with the defund movement intended to stop police from responding to certain situations, such as mental health crises. In Washington, D.C., for example, police are no longer the first responders for these kinds of calls.
--:-- John Bickley: All right. Well, this is a really important issue for a lot of people. Ash, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Ash Short: Anytime.
--:-- John Bickley: That's Daily Wire senior editor Ash Short. In September 2021, mounted Border Patrol agents were accused of whipping Haitian migrants at the southern border. The agents were found to have broken no laws, but the Biden administration is still investigating it and looking to impose disciplinary action. Now the Heritage Foundation is suing the Biden administration, demanding the release of all documents related to the investigation. Joining us to discuss is former DHS Oversight Counsel Mike Howell, who's heading up the Heritage Foundation's oversight project.
--:-- Mike Howell: Yeah, absolutely. So as everyone knows, Border Patrol agents were accused about a year ago falsely of whipping illegal aliens as they crossed the border near Del Rio, Texas. That turned out to be fake news that spread really fast and no evidence was put forth of actual whipping. Then Biden and Psaki and Mayorkas and others went out to the media and said, basically, this is the worst thing they've ever seen. We're going to hold them accountable, et cetera, et cetera. And expect an investigation to be completed in a couple of weeks. We're sitting here, you know, so many months later and nothing's happened. It's clear to us at the Heritage Foundation that this is a political process the entire way through. And that shouldn't be at play when you're dealing with a rank-and-file investigation of Border Patrol agents.
--:-- John Bickley: So we're sick of waiting. We have learned that they're still planning on punishing these agents. And so we FOIA'd all the communications that the political appointees at the Department of Homeland Security may have had about this incident. And we're going after those communications because they have no business weighing in on this kind of investigation if they want to have any integrity to it whatsoever. So if they're putting their thumb on the scale, we need to know about it.
--:-- Mike Howell: They ignored us. They told us to you know basically pound sand.
--:-- John Bickley: What do we know about the status of the investigation into Border Patrol? What has the administration said about it publicly?
--:-- Mike Howell: The administration publicly in, you know, the days following the incident told the American people, Biden said they will pay for this. Mayorkas said the investigation would be completed in weeks. This isn't a complicated fact pattern. They were accused of whipping illegal aliens. There's no such evidence that's been put out there that the tapes show otherwise. And so the question is what are they really doing here? Are they just trying to find some sort of reason to punish them? Um, and that's what we think's happening because basically the outrage of the base and the complete hatred of the border patrols animating how they deal with the border patrol and so if that's at play, it's going to be a strong legal argument for these agents when they try to combat this punishment that might be meted out to them.
--:-- John Bickley: As you touched on, this case ties into a larger issue, the strained relationship between the administration and Border Patrol. How have agents responded to this, the accusations and the investigation?
--:-- Mike Howell: Well, the agents are furious. They speak primarily through their union, the Border Patrol Union, which has been really involved in this. And other organizations representing agents or law enforcement have spoken out about this as well. The National Police Association is one such organization. They're furious. I mean, they've been begging Congress and the administration to give the Border Patrol some sort of support. Instead, all they've gotten is waving in more illegal aliens to invite them to cross the border. No changes in the law or policy. They basically got rid of all the border security policies from the Trump administration immediately when the Biden administration took place. And the agents have just been dealing with this onslaught. And no relief has come. If they could, you know, take a vote tomorrow, I have no doubt the Border Patrol 80-20 would get rid of Biden and Mayorkas.
--:-- John Bickley: Yeah, it appears that things have just continued to sour there. Well, Mike, thanks for coming on.
--:-- Mike Howell: Hey, thanks for having me.
--:-- John Bickley: That was Heritage Foundation's Mike Howell. Other stories we're tracking this week. In another released decision, the Supreme Court ruled to protect police officers from civil lawsuits if they have failed to read the accused their Miranda rights. Uvalde School District Police Chief Pete Arradondo, who has been widely criticized for his handling of the school shooting, has been placed on administrative leave. The FDA has ordered all Juul electronic cigarettes and vaping products be taken off the market in the U.S. Publix grocery stores said their pharmacies will not give out COVID vaccines to children under five. The embattled country of Ukraine has officially become a candidate for membership in the European Union. The polio virus has been found in London wastewater. UK health officials are investigating but have no reports of actual polio. The Biden administration proposed an expansion of Title IX's prohibition of discrimination on the basis of sex to include sexual orientation and gender identity. And Germany is facing a natural gas crisis after Russia cuts supplies to several countries in Europe.
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