Morning Brief: Shutdown Day Two, Turmoil in Des Moines Schools, & Canada Forces Gun Buyback

No progress as the government shutdown continues, New York state issued commercial driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants but didn’t require a first name, and Canada launches a new gun buyback program.

It’s Thursday, October 2, 2025, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.

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Shutdown Enters Day 2

Topline: Tensions in Washington remain high as the government shutdown enters its second day after Senate Democrats once again blocked a Republican funding measure on Wednesday. 

Roughly 750,000 non-essential federal workers have been furloughed, with tens of thousands more expected in the coming days. Essential law enforcement and military personnel, along with air traffic controllers, medical providers, and power grid workers, continue to work.

Trump: Unlike previous shutdowns, Trump is stepping in to ensure that federal workers focused on his core policy agenda are deemed essential. For example, the vast majority of immigration enforcement operations will continue as usual, while trade officials working in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will maintain 60% of its staff to continue hammering out tariff deals.

On Capitol Hill, Senate Republicans once again proposed a short-term stopgap that would turn the lights back on until November, allowing time for a broader deal. However, Democrats once again voted it down, 55-45. The Senate is not expected to convene again until Friday, so it’s almost certain to drag on at least until the weekend.

Cuts coming: Office of Management and Budget head Ross Vought instructed federal agencies last week, before the shutdown, to begin making plans for mass layoffs. On Wednesday, Vought told House Republicans that the administration would start terminating employees within the next day or two. 

Essentially, they argue that if your job is considered non-essential, why are taxpayers employing you to begin with? It’s unclear just how many federal workers would be laid off under that plan, but if nothing else, it could incentivize Democrat leaders to reach a deal and avoid mass government layoffs.

More On Des Moines Superintendent

Topline: The Daily Wire delves into the background of Ian Roberts, who previously served as superintendent of the Des Moines Public Schools before being arrested for allegedly being in the United States without authorization. He has since resigned from his post, and some alarming information about his immigration history has surfaced.

Sources within the federal government recently shared with The Daily Wire that on a previous immigration application, Roberts declared that he had six children with five different women and that three of those kids were born within a year of each other. That application for immigration status was subsequently rejected.

Additionally, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services shared more information about his hiring for the superintendent role, telling The Daily Wire that Roberts hasn’t been checked through the federal E-Verify employment eligibility system for more than a decade. They also stated that the school district hasn’t utilized the program.

If it had, district officials would have known that Roberts lied about being a citizen on his I-9 employment verification form.

Feds take a look: The Department of Justice has launched a civil rights investigation into the school district’s DEI hiring practices, as Roberts is black and a native of Guyana.

The DOJ says it is looking into whether the school district engaged “in employment practices that discriminate based on race, color, and national origin.”

According to its website, the district requires that its teaching and learning staff match the student population in terms of “demographics and cultural responsivity.” It also set specific quotas for “increas[ing] the number of teachers of color” in an affirmative action plan. Its staff retention strategy prioritizes “lift[ing] up voices of our People of Color” and “creat[ing] a safer environment for People of Color.” The school district also operates the “3D Coalition” project, a recruitment and hiring program for “aspiring minority teachers.”

Canada Gun Buyback Program

Topline: The Canadian federal government has started the rollout of its controversial gun buyback program following sweeping bans of what it describes as “assault style weapons”. 

In 2020, after a Nova Scotia man went on a deadly shooting spree, then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau used executive authority to add more than 1,500 firearm models to the nation’s prohibited list, effectively banning the sale and ownership of entire classifications of firearms that were previously allowed.

Parliament passed firearm reform laws decades ago. Those laws essentially gave the prime minister’s cabinet authority to decide which specific firearms are banned. Because of the prime minister’s power to hire and fire his cabinet at will, he has broad authority and ability to enact sweeping gun bans almost unilaterally.

Iffy enforcement: A large-scale ban like this poses a logistical nightmare for enforcement. Not only does it ban the sale of many firearms, but it also makes possibly hundreds of thousands of currently owned firearms illegal.

The government offered an amnesty period of two years in which gun owners could surrender their firearms, but that period was repeatedly extended due to a lack of compliance. In the meantime, the Canadian government put a freeze on the sale of all handguns. Now that the amnesty period is coming to a close, the government is showing no intention of any further extensions and is beginning to crack down in full force. 

The buyback program: A pilot program has been rolled out in Nova Scotia, where owners of the now-illegal firearms can turn them in to the police for a reimbursement of $400-$700, depending on the model. The plan is to expand the program nationwide soon.

Government officials insist on referring to the program as a “voluntary buy-back” program. In reality, the only choice Canadian gun owners are offered is to turn in their guns, destroy them, or be in violation of the law and theoretically have their weapons confiscated in the future and possibly face criminal charges.

It’s not a complete ban, but it’s about as far as the prime minister could go. The laws surrounding the prime minister’s authority still contain language intended to protect sportsmen. Theoretically, guns commonly used for hunting should be protected, but the language is vague. The ban is said to focus on “assault style weapons,” a term that is not clearly defined either in Canadian law or in the firearm industry. It’s typically used in the context of semi-automatic firearms such as AR-15 or AK-style rifles, but these bans go far beyond those. The order bans carbines that fire pistol rounds, 22-caliber semi-autos, and many guns that aren’t semi-automatic at all, including large caliber bolt action rifles and many pump action shotguns.