🎯 Axios AM: America's new arsenal

D.C.'s coming icon | Sunday, April 24, 2022

Open in app View in browser   Presented By Bank of America   Axios AM By Mike Allen · Apr 24, 2022 It's Orthodox Easter. Polls are open in France for the Macron v. Le Pen runoff. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Secretary of State Tony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are coming to Kyiv. Smart Brevity™ count: 968 words ... 4 mins. Edited by Jennifer Koons.     1 big thing: More people of color are buying guns Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios   People of color are buying guns at higher rates than ever before, Axios' Shawna Chen reports. Why it matters: Heightened violence, including new homicide records, a rise in anti-Asian hate crimes and national attention to police brutality have all pushed more Black, Latino and Asian Americans to turn to firearms for self-protection. Between the lines: This wave could spell trouble for Democrats, who suffered losses in these demographics in battleground states in 2020. Fear of crime in the U.S. is the highest since 2016, according to Gallup. The initial surge in gun purchases was driven partly by the pandemic as fear and uncertainty set in, according to Mark Oliva, spokesperson for the firearm industry trade association National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF). Retailer surveys conducted by NSSF showed that between 2019 and 2020, there was a ... 58% increase in African Americans buying guns. 49% increase in Hispanic Americans buying guns. 43% increase in Asian Americans buying guns. These rates of increase remained unchanged between 2020 and 2021 among nearly 60% of retailers, the trade group said. With anti-Asian hate crimes splashed across the news, many Asian Americans felt that their only option was to turn to firearms, said Chris Cheng, founding board member of the Asian Pacific American Gun Owners Association. "It was an awakening for Asian Americans to say: 'How do I avoid becoming the next Atlanta spa shooting victim?'" Cheng said. High-profile cases of police brutality drove many Black Americans to take their safety into their own hands, Douglas Jefferson, SVP of the National African American Gun Association (NAAGA), told Axios. Over 10,000 people joined NAAGA in the past two years, he said. The defund-police movement, which aims to shift resources from police to social services, made some Latino immigrants wary, said Gabby Franco, a Venezuelan firearms instructor who has taught Latinos. Many come from countries with high crime rates and have firsthand experience with underfunded police. "It's like, 'For me to pursue my dreams, I need to make sure that I stay alive,'" Franco told Axios. Reality check: Gun violence disproportionately affects Black, Native American and Latino communities. Share this story.     2. House GOP sides with Musk Photo illustration: Dado Ruvic/Reuters   House Judiciary Committee Republicans demanded Twitter's board preserve documents about their response to Elon Musk's takeover attempt, Axios Andrew Solender reports. Why it matters: The letters signal Republicans would launch an investigation if Musk is thwarted and they win the majority. A Judiciary GOP spokesperson told Axios last month that "Big Tech censorship" is among planned oversight targets. Read the letters .... Share this story. 🐦 P.S. Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has a new title: Block Head. A regulatory disclosure from digital payments company Block Inc. says Dorsey is making a semantic change to his title — from Block CEO, president and chairperson to "Block Head and Chairperson." —AP     3. Amazon wins approval for HQ2 Artist's rendering of the Helix. Photo: NBBJ/Amazon via AP The Arlington County (Va.) Board yesterday unanimously endorsed plans for Amazon's second headquarters, at a 10.4-acre site in Pentagon City known as PenPlace, The Washington Post reports. Plans include a 350-foot glass Helix (rendering above), three office buildings, retail pavilions, child care and 2.75 acres of open space. The complex will welcome 25,000+ workers when complete. Go deeper: In an architectural review in February, WashPost critic Philip Kennicott said the Helix will be a "prominent visual icon on Interstate 395."     A message from Bank of America Forging a path toward achieving net-zero     Bank of America is part of the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials. Why it's important: The partnership consists of a group of financial institutions working to assess and disclose the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with their loans and investments. Get more details.     4. 🐣 Faith amid war Photo: Emilio Morenatti/AP On Orthodox Easter, worshipers stand next to their traditional cakes and painted eggs during a service today at a church in Bucha, outside Kyiv. Photo: Gleb Garanich/Reuters A Ukrainian serviceman holds traditional Easter cakes and painted eggs in a helmet during a blessing ceremony outside a cathedral in Kyiv.     5. Leadership 101: Inside Zelensky's subway presser Photo: Genya Savilov/AFP via Getty Images Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky holds a press conference with international media in an underground metro station in Kyiv yesterday. Zelensky paused at one point as a train noisily passed through, AP reports. The subway system attracted widespread attention early in the war when hordes of people took shelter there. Of a Russian cruise missile attack on the Black Sea port city of Odessa, which killed a 3-month-old baby and seven others, Zelensky said: "They are just bastards. ... I don't have any other words for it, just bastards." Zelensky said Russians had set up "filtration camps" near Mariupol for those trying to leave the city. He said those who survive these camps are sent to areas under Russian occupation or to Russia itself, often as far as Siberia or the Far East. Many, he said, are children. Photo: John Moore/Getty Images Reporters got called on by holding up the names of their organizations. Photo: Gleb Garanich/Reuters     6. Farewell to Orrin Hatch, an American classic In 2011, Sen. Orrin Hatch has an aide hold up a photo to illustrate a dog and pony show, during a Senate Finance Committee hearing on gas prices. Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images Former Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a genial presence with ramrod views, died in Salt Lake City last evening, surrounded by his family. Why he mattered: Hatch, a Western conservative who wasn't afraid to work across party lines, counted the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) as one of his closest friends in the Senate. In 1997, they teamed up to create the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).  As Senate president pro tem, Hatch was third in line of succession to the presidency. He was Utah's longest-serving senator (1977 to 2019, succeeded by Sen. Mitt Romney.) He served during seven presidencies (four Rs and three Ds) and nine Senate majority leaders (four Ds and five Rs). Hatch Foundation executive director Matt Sandgren said the late senator personified the American dream, as the son of a carpenter and plaster lather: "From tax and trade to religious liberty and healthcare, few legislators have had a greater impact on American life." Go deeper: Bio ... Longest-serving senators.     A message from Bank of America The potential to track every dollar's emissions     Bank of America is part of the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials. As part of the partnership, the bank assisted in the development of a methodology to measure, better understand and manage the impact of their business activities — a critical component to address climate change.   📬 Invite your friends to sign up here to get their daily essentials — Axios AM, PM and Finish Line. Like this email style and format? It's called Smart Brevity®. Over 200 orgs use it — in a tool called Axios HQ — to drive productivity with clearer workplace communications.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. If you're interested in advertising, learn more here. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Axios, 3100 Clarendon B‌lvd, Suite 1300, Arlington VA 22201   You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios. Change your preferences or unsubscribe here.   Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up now to get Axios in your inbox. 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