SCOTUS Gun Ruling, Early Heat Wave Hurts, French Right Wing Rises

restraining order.

And this is Up First from NPR News.

Plus, what's so different about the heat wave that's hit the Midwest and East Coast?

ahead of parliamentary elections.

We have the news you need to start your weekend.

managing your money in different currencies easy.

With WISE, you can send and spend money internationally at the mid-market exchange rate.

No guesswork and no hidden fees.

Learn more about how WISE could work for you at WISE.com.

Support for NPR comes from NPR member stations and Eric and Wendy Schmidt through the Schmidt

Family Foundation, working together to create a just world where all people have access

to renewable energy, clean air and water, and healthy food.

The Schmidt Family Foundation is part of the philanthropic organizations and initiatives

created and funded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt to work toward a healthy, resilient, secure

world for all.

On the web at theschmidt.org.

We ask questions.

We follow up.

And we bring you along to hear what we learned.

Get closer to the issues, the people, and your vote at the NPR Elections Hub.

Visit npr.org slash elections.

had a restraining order against him.

in his home state of Texas.

Hi Paige.

guns for a long time, but getting that type of protection from the criminal justice system

has been difficult.

Why is that?

for help.

There's criminal prosecution, but that can take a really long time.

And then there's orders of protection, which are civil matters.

The issue at hand here with the Supreme Court case was whether a civil matter, like a protection

order, could carry penalties like being required to give up your gun.

Some gun rights groups said protection orders are just too easy to get.

But Natalie Nanasi, a law professor and domestic violence expert, disagrees.

not the case.

For example, here in Davidson County, where Nashville is, only about a third of the people

who seek protection orders end up getting one.

And that can be for all sorts of reasons.

Victims don't want to face their abusers in court, or a judge can find that a victim

isn't credible.

and owning a gun.

It has a lot of facts on its side, right?

So there's a lot of research on this, but the big takeaway is that domestic abusers

and guns are a dangerous combination.

Studies show victims are five times more likely to be killed in a domestic violence incident

when the abuser has access to a gun, and the dangers extend to others.

One study showed domestic violence calls are the most dangerous for law enforcement, and

research has found that mass shooters often have a history of domestic violence.

That's why the federal ban is the bare minimum, says Julia Weber, an expert on gun dispossession.

job separating someone who a court has deemed as needing to be prohibited from those firearms

ways that the system as it stands can be improved.

domestic violence, even with this Supreme Court ruling on gun possession?

which can make things really difficult.

Most states have no way to track how many guns someone has.

About a dozen states allow someone who's ordered to give up their guns, give them to

a third party, like a friend or a relative.

And here in my state, Tennessee, it's the only place where a person doesn't even have

to say who they gave their guns to.

Advocates say that's a really dangerous loophole that relies on the honor system.

So it's easy for guns to slip through the cracks and the consequences can be deadly.

In an investigation we published with ProPublica, we found that in Nashville, nearly 40 percent

of the victims shot in domestic violence homicides since 2007 were killed by people who were

legally barred from having a gun at the time of the shooting.

So advocates say the stakes here are incredibly high.

Thanks so much, Paige.

In New York, swimming pools are opening days ahead of schedule.

Hi there.

It was nearly 100 degrees the other day in Maine.

And that really means that people's bodies just aren't yet ready for heat.

There's actually a bunch of research showing that more people end up in the hospital or

even die during the year's first heat wave.

In a study in Boston, for example, older people were about three times as likely to go to

the ER for heat problems during that initial heat wave versus the following one.

Our bodies adjust to heat exposure in a process called acclimatization.

And it usually takes a few weeks of experiencing hot temperatures to get there.

core, from our internal organs, in order to protect them.

Our hearts send that hot blood toward the skin, and that's actually a lot of work.

So people's heart rates go up, the heart has to pump more blood with every beat.

Dan Veselio is a heat expert at George Mason University.

It was 90 degrees out when we talked.

He says after it's been hot for a bit and people start acclimatizing,

to the heat.

And that's not all.

How people sweat also changes.

Like, it gets less salty.

It means you hold onto your electrolytes better, and your blood stays properly balanced chemically.

And this is actually really cool, too.

Less salty sweat actually evaporates more easily, and sweat evaporation is the main

way that our bodies shed heat.

People also start sweating sooner.

Here's Veselio again.

Oh, I'm getting hot.

It's time to start sweating.

Now it might think at 87 or 88 degrees.

What precautions might they take that can help during this early season heat?

So taking it seriously, even when it doesn't sound too risky, is really important.

I spoke to Ashley McClure, a doctor in the Bay Area in California.

She says climate change is changing the flavor of heat season, and it's catching her patients

off guard.

When that starts happening sooner, you know, people aren't really thinking about it in

May or June.

You know, we often think about those intense heat waves being more July and August.

That's especially because heat waves now last longer and are hotter.

That's a hallmark of climate change.

So she says, drink lots of water, stay cool, especially at night, and take lots of breaks

before you get too hot.

Just let your body ease into summer gently.

softened its positions.

Hi, Eleanor.

I mean, this is all in the wake of the EU elections, right?

You know, Marine Le Pen's so-called far-right party got 31 percent of the vote.

That's double what Macron got, and nobody else even came close.

And he said he could not continue his three years without a clear message from the French people.

He said, you go choose your government.

So he dissolved parliament, called snap elections.

He's betting the French were just letting off steam in the EU vote, and they won't actually

pick the far-right to run their own country.

But it's a huge risk for Macron, because the far-right could win.

You know, we're in the Fast and Furious two-week campaign season.

The first round is next weekend.

The second round is July 7th.

We have Macron's centrist party, and all of the splinter parties, because the mainstream

left imploded several years ago, they've formed a coalition.

Macron is not very popular after being in power seven years.

Polls give him a 28 percent approval rating.

You might remember the Yellow Vest protest that went on for more than a year, and he

also pushed through an unpopular raising of the retirement age against protests.

So he's angered working-class voters.

Meanwhile, immigration is still a problem.

Security problems are getting worse, people say, and this is what has fueled the far-right

all these years.

So we have Le Pen's National Rally Party, which is more popular than ever, and there's

a real chance, Don, that the second round runoff in these elections will be a contest

between the two extremes, the left and the right.

But who is more extreme these days is shifting.

Historically, the far-right party is the extremist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic party, and the French

have always come together to block it.

But these days, the far-left is seen as increasingly anti-Semitic.

of the French Jewish community?

This person is Serge Klarsfeld.

He's a Holocaust survivor and a Nazi hunter.

He and his wife literally spent their lives hunting down Nazis across the world and bringing

them to justice.

So he's a huge moral figure in France and beyond.

And he spoke this week on television, and he said if it came down to choosing between

the two, far-left, far-right, he had no hesitation.

Let's listen.

He says, I will vote for the National Rally Party rather than the left.

We're confronted with an extreme left that's anti-Semitic and violently anti-Zionist and

a party on the right that has changed and supports our values today.

You know, the National Rally Party is not the same party as the one founded by Marine

Le Pen's father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, in the 1970s.

She took over in 2010, and she's trying to mainstream it, and she has de-demonized it.

That's what they call it.

She's broken with the old guard and the old stances, like anti-Semitism.

And you see that at the rallies.

You see young people, professionals, and there's a new leader, 28-year-old Jordan Bardella.

He's brought a lot of them in.

And so Marine Le Pen also condemned the attack on Israel by Hamas October 7th, while the

far-left in France has taken a very hostile attitude towards Israel, is very pro-Palestinian,

and critics say it is becoming the new party of anti-Semitism.

What are you hearing from them?

Many voters are angry that Macron did this, put the country in this situation, and people

are also shocked that it's the extremes that may be in the second-round runoff.

But as I said, many voters now see the far-left as more of a threat than the far-right.

I spoke to one voter, a Jewish voter, Jordan Naoum, and he said if it comes down to it,

many Jewish voters like him also wouldn't hesitate in who they support.

I am going to vote without a doubt for the so-called extreme right, just because it's

a lot less violent.

I feel like the extreme left is much more violent than the extreme right nowadays.

France has the largest Jewish and Muslim populations in Europe.

He said their biggest worry is radical Islam and anti-Semitism from the Muslim community.

France has had terrorist attacks in recent years, and he says that Marine Le Pen is seen

as a bulwark against these extremists.

Eleanor, thanks very much.

I'm Ayesha Roscoe.

Marchito, and Ted Meebe.

Sarah Oliver is our executive producer.

in Seattle in 1973, and what it says about the effort to integrate people with mental

illness in society.

And hopefully, some of it will be more uplifting than this episode of Up First has been.

To find your station, go to stations.npr.org.

You need to understand what's happening so you are fully informed come November.

Every weekday on the NPR Politics podcast, our political reporters break down important

stories and backstories from the campaign trail, so you understand why it matters to

you.

Listen to the NPR Politics podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

rule.

If they gain more power, it could mean fewer rights for you.

I'm Heath Druzin, and on the new season of Extremely American, I'll take you inside

the movement.

Listen to Extremely American from Boise State Public Radio, part of the NPR network.

LifeGates got you covered with tips on staying safe in the heat, planning your big vacation,

Listen to the LifeGate podcast from NPR.