National Roundup

Rhode Island
Governor signs law banning 3D-printed weapons, ‘ghost guns’
The governor of Rhode Island on Tuesday signed into law bills that ban 3D-printed guns and so-called “ghost guns” in the state.

The bills, the first ones Gov. Gina Raimondo has signed during the coronavirus pandemic, are “a matter of public health,” she said.

“I am proud to sign them because it is an important step forward in common sense gun reforms that make Rhode Island communities safer,” the Democratic governor said.

Sponsored by state Sen. Cynthia Coyne, D-Barrington, and state Rep. Patricia Serpa, D-West Warwick, the bills were approved by the legislature last week.

3-D printed guns are generally plastic and undetectable by metal detectors. Ghost guns are available in kits, don’t require a background check to purchase and lack serial numbers.

The bills make it illegal to manufacture, import, sell, ship, deliver, possess, transfer or receive any such firearms. Anyone who violates the ban and is convicted could serve up to 10 years in prison and faces fines of up $10,000. The laws take effect in 30 days.

The legislation had the support of gun control advocacy groups as well as state Attorney General Peter Neronha and state police commander Col. James Manni.

Manni recalled a 2018 investigation into a motorcycle gang in the state that yielded 52 weapons, including 11 ghost guns, which he said were specifically manufactured to sell to people prohibited from owning firearms as convicted felons.

“It did not make sense to me as a gun owner, it did not make sense to me as a law enforcement officer, that these types of firearms could be made and sold anywhere to people who should not have them,” he said.

Giffords, a Washington, D.C.-based gun violence prevention organization founded by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, praised the bills.

“Gov. Raimondo stood up to the gun lobby and put the safety of Rhode Islanders first,” Giffords said in an emailed statement. “Ghost guns are being used more and more by people who could never pass a background check. She’s fixing that, and signing this legislation is a bold step that will better protect communities throughout Rhode Island.”

Alabama
State history agency admits perpetuating systemic racism
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama’s main state history agency, spurred by nationwide protests against racial injustice, is acknowledging that it helped perpetuate systemic racism for generations by promoting Confederate narratives while ignoring those of Black people.

A  “statement of recommitment” issued Tuesday by the Alabama Department of Archives and History says the state agency was founded in 1901, the year Alabama’s current Constitution was approved, to both preserve records and promote “lost cause” ideals favored by Southern whites.

“For well over a half-century, the agency committed extensive resources to the acquisition of Confederate records and artifacts while declining to acquire and preserve materials documenting the lives and contributions of African Americans in Alabama,” said the statement signed by the agency’s director, Steve Murray, and approved by trustees.

Housed in a state museum across the street from Alabama’s Capitol, where the Confederacy was formed in 1861, the the agency said it has taken steps to change in recent decades. But it is still staffed mainly by white people, especially in its leadership and archival and curatorial staffs, the statement acknowledged.

The statement, said the agency is rededicating itself to telling a fuller story of the state.

“If history is to serve the present, it must offer an honest assessment of the past,” it said.

Hundreds of school groups annually visit the archives museum, which includes extensive exhibits on the antebellum period, secession, the Civil War and Reconstruction. It also features exhibits on Alabama’s role in the civil rights movement.

Murray told news outlets that work to tell a more complete history of the state began in the late ‘60s and accelerated in the 1980s under Ed Bridges, the former director.

Murray said the department has done “a lot of reflection” during nationwide protests against racial injustice that followed the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota.

Alabama’s attempt to revamp the way it presents its history was on display last year during the state’s bicentennial celebration. Official activities included a discussion of the horrors of slavery and many events focused on civil rights, but there also were events promoted by Confederate heritage groups.

Nearly 60 years earlier, in 1961, Alabama marked the 100th anniversary of the Civil War with white women dressed in hoop skirts parading through a coliseum and a re-enactment of the inauguration of the Confederate president, Jefferson Davis, at the Capitol.

Ohio
Lawsuit: abusive Ohio State doc placed above accountability
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A former Ohio State University student health director acknowledged he knew of a doctor’s practice of conducting a genital exam on every patient he saw, according to an updated lawsuit against the university over the doctor’s abuse.

Ted Grace confirmed in a deposition that such behavior was unusual and not meant for ailments like “a bloody nose,” according to the updated lawsuit unsealed this week.

The lawsuit also alleges that several Ohio State medical staff believed the university placed team doctor Richard Strauss above accountability.

Hundreds of former students allege decades-old sexual abuse and mistreatment by Strauss. The men can’t confront Strauss, who died in 2005. No one has publicly defended him. The updated lawsuit includes allegations by 14 additional victims.

Ohio State said in May it will pay about $41 million to settle a dozen lawsuits by 162 men. Multiple other lawsuits are still pending.

Grace, who now has a similar role at Southern Illinois University, has declined to comment. He told The Southern Illinoisan last year he did his best in a difficult situation and is “the only one who did anything at all.”