Las Vegas Shooter May Have Considered Chicago, Russian Hackers Breached NSA Contractor, Bump Stock Ban to Be Introduced: P.M. Links

• Authorities are investigating whether the Las Vegas shooter had been considering other options, including a Lollapalooza festival in Chicago. Police are still trying to piece together Stephen Paddock’s life prior to the shooting and determine what his motive was.
• A GOP congressman from Florida plans to introduce legislation today to ban bump stocks that increase the firing speed of guns. The National Rifle Association came out in favor of bump stock regulations this afternoon.
• Russian government hackers breached the home computer of a contractor for the National Security Agency and stole information about how the NSA both defends networks against attacks and penetrates other networks. The theft happened back in 2015 but wasn’t discovered until last year.
• Attorney General Jeff Sessions has reversed the Department of Justice’s formal position held during President Barack Obama’s administration that said transgender workers were protected under federal civil rights laws that ban sex-based discrimination. Justice Department lawyers will now be arguing in court cases that federal law does not cover discrimination against transgender people as currently written.
• A new Pew poll shows that the partisan divide between Democrats and Republicans is growing wider on many issues. There’s an interesting notable exception, though: For the first time ever, a majority of Republicans (54 percent) say that society should accept homosexuality.
• California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed into law the “sanctuary state” legislation that limits when and how local law enforcement agencies can cooperate with the feds on immigration enforcement.
• A New York Times investigation has uncovered decades of sexual harassment complaints against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein. Weinstein’s lawyer says he’s going to sue the newspaper.
• Pennsylvannia GOP Rep. Tim Murphy, is resigning effective Oct. 21, after getting caught up in an affair scandal where he apparently urged a mistress to get an abortion, even though he’s publicly pro-life.

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