Program would exchange guns for iPads, protesters disrupt Kavanaugh’s supreme court hearings and Bernie Sanders introduces a bill to tax large companies

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A group of religious figures in Indiana are hoping to launch a gun buyback program in Indianapolis in a bid to curb the city’s rising gun violence.

Rev David W Greene Sr and Rev Wayne L Moore, president of the Baptist Ministers Alliance, met with Indianapolis police last week to try to sell the program, which could see people rewarded with iPads if they turn in a gun.

“There’s some urgency given the statistics we have at the moment,” Greene told the Indianapolis Star. “We’re trying to get it as soon as possible.”

There have been record numbers of “criminal homicides” in Indianapolis in each of the last three years, the Star reported.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Hand guns turned in at a Los Angeles buyback in 2012. Photograph: David Mcnew/Reuters

One sticking point is likely to be that buyback programs have little history of success – with people using the opportunity to turn in old weapons that are not being used to commit crime.

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, the state legislature sent nine new gun-control bills to Governor Jerry Brown on Wednesday.

“Among the legislation waiting approval by Brown are proposals to lift the age for buying rifles and shotguns from 18 to 21, and to prohibit the purchase of more than one long gun a month,” the Los Angeles Times reported.

Kavanaugh turmoil

Seventy people were arrested on Capitol Hill on Tuesday as the first day of the hearings on supreme court nominee Brett Kavanaugh got under way.

While Cory Booker was busy launching his 2020 presidential campaign, protesters had gathered in a bid to resist Kavanaugh, who they fear could be a vote in reversing Roe v Wade abortion rights.

As activists heckled Kavanaugh, Democrat Dianne Feinstein apologized to Kavanaugh for their behavior, which seemed rather ill-judged.

Alex Bolton (@alexanderbolton) Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) apologizes to Brett Kavanaugh for disruptions of liberal protesters during confirmation hearing: "I'm sorry for the circumstances but we'll get through it."



Good, Useful Act Raised by Democrat and Independent Against Nastiness

Bernie Sanders and the California Democrat Ro Khanna introduced their Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies act – AKA the Bezos Act – this week.

The snappily named legislation would “end taxpayer subsidization of corporations’ low wages”, the pair said, by placing a tax on large companies which is equal to the value of the public subsidies that the company’s workers receive.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Bernie Sanders speaks at a rally in July. Photograph: Cliff Owen/AP

“We do not believe that taxpayers should have to expend huge sums of money subsidizing profitable corporations owned by some of the wealthiest people in this country. That’s what a rigged economy is about,” Sanders said.

(The subheading above is also an acronym, by the way – just a bad one.)