Latest News
- Justice Department files lawsuits against Virginia and California over gun laws
- Police officer jailed after assaulting 13-year-old boy in Wiltshire
- Rocket debris discovered on beach in Palawan, Philippines
- European people’s party calls for more free pollution allowances in ets
- Starmer announces £15 billion defence investment plan amid PMQs clash
- Kelowna businesses report rising crime is affecting downtown operations
- Melat Kiros projected to defeat Diana DeGette in Colorado primary race
- Raise the Colours member charged with making indecent images of children
Hunt for Tube hero who gave blind man his shoes after he lost one through the gap The hunt is on find an ‘absolute hero’
Get you up to speed: Justice Department sues Virginia, California over gun laws
The Justice Department has filed lawsuits against Virginia and California over alleged unconstitutional restrictions on gun sales. The Virginia suit targets a law banning automatic weapons, while the California lawsuit challenges a newly enacted law restricting certain firearms sales that took effect on July 1.
The Justice Department’s lawsuits against Virginia and California aim to halt enforcement of gun sales restrictions that it deems unconstitutional. Concurrently, the Supreme Court is set to examine whether the Second Amendment protects the right to own AR-15-style rifles, with hearings scheduled for its upcoming term.
The Justice Department has initiated lawsuits against Virginia and California, claiming that both states’ laws impose “unconstitutional” restrictions on firearm sales. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stated that the department aims to halt enforcement of these laws, asserting that they violate the Second Amendment rights of citizens.
What remains unclear — It is not specified when the lawsuits against Virginia and California will be heard in court.
Justice Department files lawsuits against Virginia and California over gun laws
The Justice Department announced Wednesday that it had filed lawsuits against two states for what the department alleged are “unconstitutional” restrictions on sales of certain types of guns.
In Virginia, the department is targeting a law that banned the sale of automatic weapons. In California, it is suing over a newly enacted law that restricts the sale of some firearms with a trigger that could be modified into a “machinegun-convertible pistol.” The California law went into effect on July 1.
In a statement, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said that “the Constitution is not a suggestion” and “the Second Amendment is a sacred right belonging to all Americans, even those in California.”
The DOJ said its Virginia suit, filed against both the state and the state police, alleges that the state’s law “unconstitutionally bans the purchase and sale of ordinary semi-automatic rifles owned by millions of Americans.”
“The Virginia law makes the commercial purchase of AR-15-style rifles a crime,” the Justice Department said in a news release. “The AR-15 rifle is the most popular rifle in America. Virginia’s enforcement of the new ban is a pattern or practice of conduct by the commonwealth’s law enforcement officers that deprives the citizens of Virginia of their constitutional right to buy and sell arms protected by the Second Amendment.”
The department said in a separate news release that its suit against California seeks to halt the state’s Glock ban and prevent enforcement of California’s “Handgun Roster,” which limits what legal firearms can be legally purchased. It characterized both the ban and the roster as unlawful.
On Tuesday the Supreme Court said it will consider in its next term whether the Second Amendment guarantees the right to have AR-15-style rifles. It will hear two cases challenging local and state laws outlawing AR-15s and similar semi-automatic rifles. One involves an ordinance in Cook County, Illinois, and the other centers on a Connecticut law.
In two separate rulings last month, the Supreme Court struck down a law in Hawaii that restricted guns on private property that is open to the public and the high court sided with a Texas man who challenged the federal ban that barred certain drug users from having firearms.
October 12, 2024
6:18 am
‘Cheer up, you caught the bad guy,’ says killer Virginia McCullough as she is arrested for murdering her parents
A woman who murdered her parents “in cold blood” before hiding them in makeshift tombs for four years told officers to “cheer up, you caught the bad guy” as she was arrested in her home.
Virginia McCullough, 36, poisoned her father John McCullough, 70, with prescription medication and fatally stabbed her mother Lois McCullough, 71, shortly afterwards in 2019.
She ran up large debts on credit cards in her parents’ names and after their deaths, she continued to spend their pensions until she was finally caught in 2023.
In body-worn video footage released by police, a handcuffed – and eerily calm – McCullough told officers: “I did know that this would kind of come eventually.
“It’s proper that I serve my punishment.”
She said she had slipped something into her father’s drink then put his body under a bed on the ground floor, and put her mother’s body in an upstairs wardrobe.
McCullough, having been arrested on suspicion of double murder, told an officer: “Cheer up, at least you’ve caught the bad guy.”
She added: “I know I don’t seem 100% evil.”
At the police station, she told officers where a kitchen knife was, which she described as a “murder weapon”, and a hammer which she said “will still have blood on it”.
McCullough, of Pump Hill, Chelmsford, Essex, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday with a minimum term of 36 years at Chelmsford Crown Court, after she admitted to their murders between 17 and 20 June 2019 at an earlier hearing at the same court.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard how she hid their bodies in makeshift tombs at the family home in Great Baddow in Essex, then told persistent lies to cover her tracks.
The court heard she cancelled family arrangements and frequently told doctors and relatives her parents were unwell, on holiday or away on lengthy trips.
But concerns over Mr and Mrs McCullough’s welfare were raised in September 2023 by a GP at their registered practice, and Essex County Council’s safeguarding team referred these to police.
The GP had not seen the couple for some time and said Mr McCullough had failed to collect medication and attend scheduled appointments. It was found McCullough had frequently cancelled appointments, using a range of excuses to explain her father’s absence.
Police said a missing persons investigation was initially launched and McCullough lied to officers, claiming her parents were travelling and would be returning in October.
It became a murder investigation, and when officers forced entry to the house in Pump Hill on September 15 2023, McCullough confessed that her parents’ bodies were in the house and that she had killed them.
Nicola Rice, a specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “McCullough callously and viciously killed both of her parents before concealing their bodies in makeshift tombs within their home address.
“She spent the next four years manipulating and lying to family members, medical staff, financial institutions, and the police, spending her parents’ money and accruing large debts in their name.”
She added: “This was a truly disturbing case, which has left behind it a trail of devastation, and I can only hope that the sentence passed today will help those who loved and cared for Lois and John begin to heal.”
To downplay the genocide, the israelis claim there’s only 20,000 people left in north Gaza, says
@MahaGaza
: the real number exceeds 400,000
Man of the right wing Nigel Farage taking more second jobs and freebie helicopter rides
Gosh he’ll soon be a true blue Tory at this rate
Or far far worse
The cost-of-living crisis is far from over, yet the government’s 50% increase to the bus fare cap is a political choice, adding hundreds to annual costs.
To address hardship & the climate crisis, the government must keep the £2 cap & make public transport accessible for all.
G20 waters down support for Ukraine amid pressure for peace talks
The Tech Titan Who Led His Company From a 68-Square-Foot Jail Cell
November 23, 2024
8:25 am
Defense alliance NATO chief Mark Rutte has met US President-elect Donald Trump to discuss global security issues, according to a NATO spokesperson.
The meeting took place in Palm Beach, Florida.
During his first term as US president, 2017-2020, Trump pushed for European NATO countries to spend more on defense and described the alliance’s cost-sharing as unfair to the US.
Rutte took over as NATO chief from Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg in November.
Before taking office in January, Trump has nominated Pete Hegseth for the post of defense secretary, which has raised eyebrows among many allies.
Hegseth, 44, has served as an infantry captain in Iraq and Afghanistan, but has no senior military or government officer experience.
November 23, 2024
8:25 am
November 23, 2024
8:17 am
Multiple missiles were fired in an airstrike towards a densely populated part of Lebanon’s capital early on Saturday.
The huge airstrike targeted Beirut’s Basta neighbourhood, and no prior warnings were given by the Israeli military. The largely residential area was struck last month.
At least one violent explosion was heard across the city, Reuters witnesses said, and plumes of smoke could be seen. Scenes of massive destruction at the site were shared online, including a massive crater in the ground.
“Beirut, the capital, woke up to a horrific massacre, as the Israeli enemy’s air force completely destroyed an eight-story residential building with five missiles on Al-Mamoun Street in Basta,” the state-run National News Agency reported.
The health ministry put the initial death toll at four, with 23 wounded. The number is expected to climb in the coming hours as search and rescue efforts continue.
It came after a long day of Israeli airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, which have been non-stop since last week.
The cross-border fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group escalated into a full-blown war in mid-September.
Israel has bombed southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and the eastern Beqaa region, and has sent ground troops across the border. Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets deeper into Israel.
What to Watch
Amazon prime - TV & Netflix
We give you the best picks to binge on this week.
What to Watch
Love Sports
Get your pizza ordered with the latest Live Sports schedule.
- Good News
Add A Comment
© 2026 WTX News.