Searching for common ground after Uvalde- POLITICO

AMBER HEARD LOSES — And Nightly endorses this tweet from chief economic correspondent Ben White: “The problem is I know just enough about this trial to have some feelings about it while having no real idea what I’m actually talking about.”

Some House Republicans also have feelings. After a jury found Heard and Johnny Depp both liable for defamation following a trial that sparked national debate over sexual assault, misogyny and the price of celebrity, the House Judiciary Committee’s GOP side signaled apparent support for Depp. The Twitter account for panel Republicans posted a triumphant picture of Depp’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” character as the verdict was read to both parties in the case.

NO GETTING PAST THE GUN DEBATE — Before we knew there was another shooting today, Nightly asked experts to set aside the intractable gun debate for a moment and think about school safety: What other ways could both parties agree to protect students and teachers?

It turns out the gun debate is not just intractable — it’s unavoidable. Many of our experts and policymakers still talked about guns, a lot. But they also put forward some ideas for steps policymakers could or should be taking right now to protect students in schools. These answers have been edited.

“Federal dollars should be spent, first, on improving schools’ physical structures. Schools should have updated HVAC systems, locking doors, working communication systems, and ceilings that do not leak, at a minimum. Second, dollars should be spent on improving access to trained mental health counselors and social-emotional learning programs for children and staff. Finally, the impact of lockdown drills should be rigorously evaluated, as there are conflicting reports both about their value and their potential harm.” — Megan Ranney, emergency room physician at Brown University and cofounder of AFFIRM at the Aspen Institute, a network of health care workers working to reduce firearm injury

“We cannot talk about school safety without addressing the ease of access to guns. In Florida, I championed a law that implemented policies to reduce gun violence and improve school safety and mental health programs. We increased the age to purchase firearms to 21, implemented three-day waiting periods, and created ‘red flag’ laws empowering law enforcement to confiscate guns from especially dangerous individuals, which have been used almost 6,000 times since 2018. These policies should be implemented and expanded nationwide.

“Beyond that, all schools should have a single point of entry, a secure holding room at the entry point, and locking systems for all classrooms and internal doors. Integrating modern full-coverage cameras with local police systems will improve emergency response if there is a threat. Personnel and programs are also key — all schools should have qualified school resource officers and mental health counselors.”

“Even if these security measures are present, they are not 100 percent effective, which is why we must pair these measures with gun violence prevention policies and banning assault weapons.” — Broward Commissioner Jared Moskowitz, a Florida Democrat who led the push to pass state legislation after Parkland

“Our members teach in Parkland and Newtown. Any mass shooting, particularly those in schools, hits educators like a ton of bricks.

“Schools are often the most important places for communities to receive help. And one of the easiest and best school safety strategies is to wrap services around schools, including counselors to increase mental health services and provide social emotional support.

“Americans have found common ground on gun safety — and this common ground should propel action. That’s why we’re calling for background checks, safe storage, red flag laws, and bans on high-capacity magazines and assault rifles that 75 percent of Americans support. Weapons of war should never be on the streets, or in the schools, of this country.” — Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers

“Florida didn’t wait for the federal government to act after our Uvalde — Parkland. The most important thing we did is make would-be shooters understand that our schools are no-longer gun-free zones. In Florida, counties now have the option to arm trained school personnel to fight back. Having seen — both in Uvalde and Parkland — that those paid to respond immediately did not — we must allow those attacked the ability to do so.

“But beyond allowing improved self-defense, we did more. We have spent hundreds of millions of dollars hardening schools — ensuring barriers and limited entrances. We have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on increased mental health, to identify students with problems early. And while it may not be politically correct to say, we are tackling the underlying problem behind all of this — broken families and Godless hearts. We have brought moral reflection back into schools and are tackling the fatherlessness crisis. Because until we fix what has broken America — our souls — everything else is just a bandaid.” — Florida Republican Rep. Randy Fine

“Quick fixes won’t work. A multi-pronged approach is the only responsible path forward. Expanded mental health services, effective security measures, enhanced organizational partnerships, increased staffing, consideration of community needs, and proactive intervention at student homes have to occur. Kids cannot learn to their fullest potential if they do not feel safe.”— Curtis Cain, superintendent of the Wentzville School District in Wentzville, Mo.

“After our community experienced unthinkable tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas H.S., we fought to pass laws with bipartisan support that protect public safety without infringing on legitimate gun ownership. As for spending federal dollars in schools, there are several structural changes that could enhance school security, things like ensuring a single point of entry, emergency alert systems, and other items that help secure buildings in the event of an active shooter.” — Florida Senate Democratic leader Lauren Book

“Three in four school shooters get their guns from their home or the homes of relatives or friends — so promoting secure firearm storage can help prevent those people from getting their hands on guns. That’s why Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action volunteers have worked with school districts covering more than 2 million students to get them to send letters to parents about the importance of secure gun storage — and the Department of Education could supercharge those efforts by launching a nationwide secure storage awareness campaign.

“When there are threats, the right people need to know about them and how to respond to them. Effective threat assessment programs must have a mechanism to identify and collect information about threats of violence, including a means to anonymously report threats and whether or not the student has access to firearms. They also need to meet these students in crisis with professionals who can provide mental health services, including school psychologists, social workers, nurses, and counselors.” — Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action

“Schools need their state governments to do their jobs. Do a better job of limiting who has access to weapons designed to kill people, as well as providing adequate red-flag laws so intervention can occur before a mass shooting begins. In Texas we regulate who can buy Sudafed and how much they can buy a day, but do nothing when a teenager buys hundreds of rounds of military-grade ammunition. That’s not on the schools, they depend on us at the state level to have policies that make sense, and in Texas we just don’t. My district, Uvalde, needs funding right now for mental health care. My folks have experienced a major trauma and, thus far, Gov. Abbott has ignored my calls. More than the money for recovery, we need the federal government to create the policies of prevention. Let’s start responding to the mass shootings by stopping the mass shootings. It is the only thing that makes sense.” — Texas Democratic Sen. Roland Gutierrez

Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at [email protected]. Or contact tonight’s author at [email protected] on Twitter at @MyahWard.

— White House reaches deal to fly in baby formula from Australia: The Biden administration has reached a deal to transport 1.25 million cans of baby formula from an Australian company into the U.S. amid shortages that have sent parents scrambling for supplies. The company, Bubs Australia, will send approximately 4.6 million bottles worth of its infant formula via two flights from Melbourne to Pennsylvania and California on June 9 and 11, respectively, the White House announced today.

— Jury indicts Buffalo shooting suspect on terrorism charge: A grand jury today charged the white 18-year-old accused of fatally shooting 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket with domestic terrorism motivated by hate and 10 counts of first-degree murder. Payton Gendron, who has been in custody since the May 14 shooting, is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in Erie County Court.

— New York jumps to pass major gun restrictions after mass shootings: The new laws sought by moderate Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state’s liberal Legislature would further tighten and strengthen New York’s gun ownership restrictions, including raising the age from 18 to 21 for the purchase of semi-automatic rifles like those used in the recent shootings. The leaders plan to pass the package before the state’s legislative session wraps up on Thursday — nine years after Albany enacted a different set of gun restrictions following the Sandy Hook school shooting.

— Abortion rights groups sue to stop Florida’s 15-week ban: The lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida on behalf of two regional Planned Parenthood offices and six abortion providers, argues the law threatens doctors with jail time and violates privacy rights that are enshrined in the state Constitution.

— Tapes reveal GOP plan to contest elections: Video recordings of Republican Party operatives meeting with grassroots activists provide an inside look at a multi-pronged strategy to target and potentially overturn votes in Democratic precincts: Install trained recruits as regular poll workers and put them in direct contact with party attorneys. The plan, as outlined by a Republican National Committee staffer in Michigan, includes utilizing rules designed to provide political balance among poll workers to install party-trained volunteers prepared to challenge voters at Democratic-majority polling places, developing a website to connect those workers to local lawyers and establishing a network of party-friendly district attorneys who could intervene to block vote counts at certain precincts.

— Sheryl Sandberg steps down as Meta COO after 14 years: In a lengthy post on Facebook, Sandberg thanked founder Mark Zuckerberg for tapping her for the job and addressed social media’s growing influence in the world — and the responsibility that comes with that. Javier Olivan, the vice president of central products, will be Meta’s next COO, “assuming a more traditional role focused internally and operationally on integrated ads and business products.”

MORE ROCKETS FOR UKRAINE — The United Kingdom is asking the U.S. to sign off on a plan to send advanced, medium-range rocket systems to Ukraine within a few weeks, according to a person familiar with the matter and a document outlining the proposal, a move that follows President Joe Biden’s announcement that he’s sending similar weapons, write Alexander Ward, Lara Seligman and Paul McLeary.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke with Biden about the transfer of the U.S.-made M270 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems today, to be followed by a discussion between U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday morning, the person familiar with the schedule said. The U.S. must officially approve the move due to export regulations, though the Biden administration is near certain to give the green light.