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--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. When you visit the doctor, you probably hand over your insurance, your ID, and contact details. It's just one of the many places that has your personal info. And if any of them accidentally expose it, you could be at risk for identity theft. LifeLock monitors millions of data points a second. If you become a victim, they'll fix it, guaranteed, or your money back. Save up to 40% your first year at LifeLock.com slash podcast. Terms apply.
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--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the praying football coach, saying that he has the constitutional right to pray at a school function. What the justice has said this morning is that even public school coaches and public school teachers and all employees across the country are entitled to the protections of the First Amendment even when they walk through those schoolhouse gates.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): How will the ruling impact state and local laws on free speech and the free exercise of religion? I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Tuesday, June 28th, and this is Morning Wire. Voter registration trends are showing a dramatic advantage for Republicans heading into the midterms. We unpack the data, including where the shifts are coming from. And gun sales are up nationwide, particularly among minorities. What factors are leading previously gun-shy Americans to get armed?
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--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. That's EpicWill.com, where you can secure your future in as little as five minutes with a complete will package starting at $119. Save 10% when you use promo code WIRE. Go to EpicWill.com today.
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--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): As fallout from the landmark ruling on Roe v. Wade continues this week, the Supreme Court issued another decision Monday on a closely watched religious freedom case involving prayer in public schools. Here to discuss the ruling and what it means for religious expression is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So, let's give a little background on this case. So Roe may have been getting all the attention lately, but this is another major case that's being watched very closely. It centers on Joe Kennedy, a football coach at a public school in Washington state. Kennedy is a Christian and would kneel in prayer at the 50-yard line after each game and, in his words, offer thanks to God, win or lose. He never asked or told students to join him, but over time, players and coaches from both teams began to pray with him after games. That's where the problem started.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Some parents complained to the school, saying that their children felt pressured to join the prayer and feared they might lose out on playing time if they didn't. And that's where the school board stepped in. Exactly. The district superintendent sent a letter to Kennedy saying that he could continue praying, but that no students were allowed to join him, and that he had to seclude himself from the field and team to do so. Kennedy said that he had a First Amendment right to prayer and insisted that he never pressured anyone to join him, so he continued praying, defying the order.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And the school district responded by suspending him, saying that he was coercing students into religious activity. Now, Kennedy responded by filing suit in federal court, and after facing a series of early setbacks with numerous lower courts siding with the school district against Kennedy he finally was able to appeal all the way to the Supreme Court and that's where things changed. Right?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So, tell us about that ruling. The court ruled 6 in favor of Kennedy saying that the school district cannot restrict him from praying publicly on the field. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the majority opinion and said, quote, the Constitution and the best of our traditions counsel mutual respect and tolerance, not censorship and suppression for religious and non-religious views alike.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Gorsuch went on to address students and parents who might be offended by the praying, saying that they should take it as a chance for, quoting here, learning how to tolerate speech or prayer of all kinds, and that it's, quote, part of learning how to live in a pluralistic society. After news of the ruling broke, Coach Kennedy had this to say on NBC King 5.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: What kind of message does that stand that I should hide who I am and my beliefs? Bermerton is one of the most diverse schools and inclusive schools around. And, you know, everybody should be, you know, free to be themselves no matter what it is.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Now, what sort of broader legal implications does this case have? Yeah, the big takeaway here is that the highest court in the land has offered new protections for religious demonstration in the public square. And more importantly, they really reinforced the precedent that public employees cannot be fired for private displays of faith. The ruling also expands the right of public employees and really all Americans to express their religious views in public.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): In this case, even though Kennedy prayed out loud and in the midst of students, his actions were still considered, quote, private speech by the court. That's big and could offer further protection for religious expression in cases around the country moving forward. All right. Well, definitely, this is a case that's going to be discussed quite a bit in the future. Cabot, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anytime.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): That's Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips. Coming up, voter registration trends show a dramatic shift in favor of Republicans. 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.
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--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Democrats got some alarming news this week as the Associated Press reported that more than one million American voters have switched their registration to the Republican Party. The phenomenon widespread throughout various regions of the country was especially pronounced in suburban communities where the AP said, quote, far more people are switching to the GOP.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): The report comes just four months before the midterm election in which many poll watchers already expected a big red wave. Here to discuss is columnist David Marcus.
--:-- David Marcus: Morning. So how serious a warning is this for Democrats? I mean, it's not good. Good morning. It's hard to win elections when you're bleeding voters to the rival party, especially given the inroads the GOP has been making in traditional Democrat demographics such as Black, Hispanic, working class voters.
--:-- David Marcus: So what's most alarming here is where it's happening, which is the suburbs. Make no mistake, the suburbs are a blue firewall. When you look at purple or swing congressional districts across the country, for example, this is where they are. Right. Why have so many suburban voters in particular defected over the past year or two? Are there issues Republicans have been able to seize on that resonate in the suburbs especially well?
--:-- David Marcus: Yeah, there are several in fact that the AP cites One is the whole 2022 is the year of the parent thing Those same concerns about progressive ideology or lack of transparency in schools that drove Glenn Youngkin win for governor of Virginia they seem to be in play here But more broadly, the article seemed to indicate that the Democrat Party has shifted way left in the eyes of voters. Some basically say they don't recognize it.
--:-- David Marcus: Even covid may have played a role. 25-year-old California resident Jake Horowitz was a lifelong liberal who made the switch after watching what he described as media hysteria surrounding COVID and censorship. Any sort of reasonable dissent to left-wing talking points was labeled bigotry and really just demonized in a way that made clear that the left didn't care any longer about free and open discourse, which is the bedrock of liberalism.
--:-- David Marcus: Now, suburban voters are often commuters. So could gas prices and the conditions in our nation's biggest cities that the places surround be adding to this dissatisfaction with Biden and his party? Absolutely. Suburban voters are feeling all the same inflationary pressures that everyone is. And yes, proximity to cities where many work, it makes crime, urban decay, homelessness. It makes all of these factors in their voting decisions.
--:-- David Marcus: All of the polls from Biden's approval to right track, wrong track show enormous frustration from voters and really low numbers. As far as the GOP is concerned, could this be viewed as kind of a post-Trump bump with some centrists coming back on board the party with him absent? It's hard to say. And he's not really absent in a sense. He's been very active and pretty successful in endorsing primary candidates, at least in the federal elections.
--:-- David Marcus: Yeah, it could be a factor. And the suburbs were always a tough battleground for Trump. These are the voters we used to call sucker moms back in the 90s. They might be more comfortable with a Ron DeSantis or Glenn Youngkin than a Trump. Is there anything that Biden and Democrats can do to reverse this trend or at least try to win back these voters that have switched out of their party? So there's a certain number of these voters who switched in order to vote in a GOP primary, but who will be loyal Democrats in the fall. That's a small number, though.
--:-- David Marcus: It's not clear that Democrats have much of a message to these disaffected suburbanites right now. Frankly, this administration is very stubbornly immune to public sentiment and has not engaged in any sort of pivot. Biden's pitch seems to be that he and the party are already doing the best that they can. So the answer might be out there and there's time to go. But right now, it doesn't look good for the Democrats. Yeah, no, it'll be interesting to see how the abortion issue plays out, too, in the election.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Thanks for joining us today, David.
--:-- David Marcus: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): That was Daily Wire contributor David Marcus.
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--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Gun ownership is up in the U.S., but has particularly surged among Black Americans. With violence increasing during the pandemic, more Black Americans have chosen to purchase guns. Daily Wire investigative reporter Mireille Delordi is here with more details for us.
--:-- Mireille Delordi: So, Mairead, tell us about this trend. First of all, how significant is this trend? So, gun sales to Black Americans rose 58% in 2020. That's according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation. The NSSF also reported that in the first quarter of 2021, 90% of gun sellers said they saw a general increase of Black customers. And it's not just Black men. 87% of gun retailers reported seeing an increase in Black women purchasing guns as well.
--:-- Mireille Delordi: Last year about a quarter of Black adults owned a gun a jump from just 14 percent six years ago In other words gun ownership among Black Americans basically doubled in just a few years Doubled wow Does this appear to be a brief spike or are there signs this is going to be a prolonged trend?
--:-- Mireille Delordi: Well the spike began in 2020 but it lasted beyond then Some of these new gun owners who were interviewed by NBC said they want to be ready to protect themselves and their families against anyone targeting Black people in hate crimes. Some of those interviewees even remarked that they were surprised when they went to buy a gun and saw so many other Black people in line to purchase.
--:-- Mireille Delordi: Other outlets have reported that rising street crime is a major factor for many buyers. Philip Smith founded the National African American Gun Association in 2015, and he said it's grown immensely since 2020 when they started getting about 1,000 new members per month. Now they have about 48,000 members across the country. He told NBC News that more Black Americans buying guns is an awakening and said, quote, this is a movement in a certain direction, and I think it's a good direction.
--:-- Mireille Delordi: So basically, Black Americans are turning to guns as a way to protect their families at a level they haven't in the past. Right. Now, are there any groups behind this trend or is this an organic movement? Well, some gun ownership groups, including the NRA, have begun marketing specifically to Black Americans over the past several years, something they didn't do much before.
--:-- Mireille Delordi: But more recently, some activists have said that they want to change misconceptions around Black gun ownership and promote the right to bear arms as a way to keep Black neighborhoods and households safe, especially with rising crime in many cities. Okay, so we're seeing a rise in guns among Black Americans. What about other groups? Has gun ownership risen among other Americans? Yes, actually.
--:-- Mireille Delordi: Gun ownership in general is also up, including among other minorities. In 2020, there was a 43% increase in Asian American gun ownership and a 49% increase in Latinos buying guns, according to the NSSF. Overall, 40% of gun sales in 2020 were to new gun owners. Traditionally, white men have been the most likely group to own guns, and about half of white men say that they own one, according to Pew Research.
--:-- Mireille Delordi: But the numbers have been climbing, among other groups. It remains to be seen whether these new gun owners will be politically active when it comes to gun laws and the Second Amendment. Yeah, that's going to be an interesting trend to watch, too.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Mireille, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Mireille Delordi: Thanks, John.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): That was Daily Wire investigative reporter Mireille Delordi.
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--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Other stories we're tracking this week. An Amtrak train carrying over 250 people derailed in Missouri on Monday after hitting a dump truck on a public crossing. At least 50 people were injured and multiple people were killed. The train was traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): 21 students celebrating the end of exams were found dead in a South African nightclub early Sunday morning. There were no signs of injury or trauma. President Biden will be in Austria for three days this week for the Group of Seven summit. The G7 has announced a ban on gold imports from Russia.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): An IRS report showed that over 21 million Americans who sent in paper tax returns have yet to see their money refunded. Thanks for listening to Morning Wire. We created this show to bring more balance to the national conversation. If you love our show and you stand with our mission, please consider subscribing, leaving us a five-star rating, and most importantly, sharing our podcast with a friend.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know. Thank you.
