What we know: Pa. AG Henry calls for assault-weapons ban

Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry on Friday called on both state and federal legislators to create or reinstate assault-weapons bans, and stressed more needs to be done to address American politicians’ “collective indifference to addressing this issue.”

Former President Donald Trump, who a gunman tried to assassinate at Butler County rally on Saturday, is “not immune from dangers presented by the prevalence and accessibility of high-capacity, long-range assault weapons,” Henry said in a prepared statement.

“This and all acts of violence have no place in our Commonwealth or anywhere,” Henry said. “I believe there is more we can do, collectively. We cannot simply rely on enforcement of existing firearms legislation to prevent tragedies like this one… We must react and reexamine our collective indifference to addressing this issue.”

Henry said her office has supported other attorneys general — most recently in Delaware and Connecticut — to uphold states’ assault weapons bans.

Gunman’s online searches

The Bethel Park man who shot former President Donald Trump at a Butler rally searched online for information on the arrest of Ethan Crumbley and his parents, who were prosecuted in a 2021 high school shooting in Michigan, according to a CNN report.

Thomas Crooks, 20, also visited websites with directions on how to build explosives. Minutes before he fired shots at Donald Trump from a nearby rooftop, he screenshotted a picture from a livestream of the rally, CNN reported.

Crumbley killed four students and injured seven others in the November 2021 shooting at Oxford High School in Michigan. His parents were convicted of involuntary manslaughter for failing to secure the gun used in the shooting and for ignoring signs of mental distress in their son.

James Crumbley and his wife, Jennifer Crumbley, are the first parents in the nation to be held criminally accountable for a child’s school shooting. Crooks used his father’s AR-15-style rifle in the Butler shooting.

Crooks searched online for the location of the planned Trump rally in Butler, CNN reported. Investigators also found other searches for Trump and President Joe Biden.

The details were shared by FBI and Secret Service officials in a Wednesday briefing with lawmakers, according to CNN. A clear motive behind the Butler shooting has still not been established.

Gunfire from Crooks killed rally attendee Corey Comperatore, 50, of Buffalo Township and wounded two others.

Senators react to Secret Service head at convention

Senators berated Kimberly A. Cheatle, the director of the Secret Service, at the Republican National Convention and demanded she answer questions about the assassination attempt on Donald J. Trump in Butler.

Sens. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the third-ranking Senate Republican, and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee aggressively confronted Cheatle at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, the New York Times reported.

“You put him within less than an inch of his life,” Barrasso said to Cheatle. “So resignation or full explanation.”

Cheatle declined to answer their questions and instead walked out of the suite.

The American people deserve answers from the Secret Service. pic.twitter.com/PNFF11v00Q

— Marsha Blackburn (@VoteMarsha) July 18, 2024