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In Chicago, ShotSpotter Sparks a Political Power Struggle
This February, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson announced his plan to decommission ShotSpotter, a controversial gunshot-detection technology that alerts police to shootings by using hundreds of acoustic sensors throughout the city. Johnson’s plan, which would sunset the technology in November, was the culmination of a years-long debate and a decision applauded...
AR-15s Are Used in America’s Deadliest Shootings. Why Is It So Hard for Police to Defend Against Them?
When a Butler Township police officer responded to reports of a gunman atop a roof outside former President Donald Trump’s Pennsylvania campaign rally on July 13, he met a threat he was ill-equipped to counter: an AR-15-style rifle. The officer quickly retreated, falling down the ladder he had used...
Guns Are Allowed Outside the RNC. This State Law Is the Reason Why.
The Republican National Convention is underway in Milwaukee, and despite the recent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, guns are allowed near the convention site because of Wisconsin’s preemption law, which prevents local municipalities from enacting gun regulations stricter than the state’s. This means in the densely...
How the Trump Rally Shooting Fits Into America’s Gun Violence Crisis
The attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, raised questions about assault rifles, access to ammunition, and gun culture. As we learn more details about the shooting on July 13, which left one attendee dead and wounded Trump and three others, here are five stories from The Trace to help make sense of what happened, and where we go from here.
The Attempt to Assassinate Trump Was Also a Mass Shooting
The attack on former President Donald Trump, which the Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing as a “potential domestic terrorism act,” was both an assassination attempt and a mass shooting — defined as four or more victims shot, per the Gun Violence Archive. It was one of nearly 300 mass shootings that have transpired in the United States so far this year.
How Police Guns End Up in the Hands of Criminals
American law enforcement agencies spend billions of dollars a year buying new guns. To lighten the budgetary blow, many agencies resell or trade in their used firearms. These weapons eventually make their way to gun store shelves, ready to be taken home by members of the general public. Sometimes, the...
They Survived the Highland Park Mass Shooting. It Opened Their Eyes.
It was a beautiful morning in Highland Park two years ago as the small city north of Chicago prepared to hold its first Fourth of July parade since 2020, when COVID-19 put public celebrations on hold. Two friends, Jason Rotter and Martin Rossen, brought their families downtown to celebrate the holiday.
July Fourth Gun Violence Plummets to a Five-Year Low
Independence Day weekend is almost always the time of year when gun violence kills or injures the most people. But this year, there were fewer people shot than in any year since 2019. According to the Gun Violence Archive, 245 people were injured or killed in shootings on the holiday,...
Surgeon General Vivek Murthy Explains His Historic Warning About Gun Violence
One week ago, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy took the unprecedented step of issuing an advisory on gun violence, marking the first time his office has addressed the issue in such depth. Murthy’s 32-page document is a clarion call to treat gun violence as an urgent public health crisis. It...
How SCOTUS’s Chevron Decision Threatens Gun Regulations
On June 28, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority struck down a four-decade-old legal precedent known as Chevron deference, which allowed federal agencies to broadly interpret federal law. The ruling could have ramifications for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the federal agency in charge of regulating firearms,...
GOP Lawmakers Say They’re Banning Credit Cards From Tracking Gun Purchases. Is It All a Show?
On July 1, new laws will take effect in Tennessee and Georgia that Republican legislators say will prevent banks and credit card companies from tracking firearm purchases. At least 15 states — all but one of them Republican-led — have passed similar laws in the past two years, barring financial institutions from using a merchant category code to identify transactions at gun stores.
The Trace Is Hiring a Director of Development
The Trace is looking for a director of development to help sustain and expand our high-impact, award-winning reporting on gun violence. At our growing nonprofit media organization, we’re building the only team of journalists dedicated to reporting on one of the most critical issues facing our country. Our stories are making a difference, and our financial support has increased during these uncertain times. As we plan for the future, we’re seeking a talented development leader to accelerate our fundraising, particularly in major gifts.
Surgeon General Issues First-Ever Gun Violence Advisory
The U.S. surgeon general has issued an unprecedented warning about the deadly and far-reaching effects of gun violence, a move that could draw resources to the issue and influence public policy. Dr. Vivek Murthy’s advisory on June 25 marks the first time that the Office of the Surgeon General has...
Days After the Supreme Court Rejected a Bump Stock Ban, Philadelphia Outlawed Rapid-Fire Devices. Will It Matter?
In March, eight Philadelphia high school students waiting for a city bus were mowed down by rapid gunfire. Last October, a police officer in an airport parking garage confronted a thief breaking into a car, only to be killed by a similar burst of gunfire. Philadelphia Police believe that the...
Gunmaker SIG Sauer Found Liable in Shooting Accident
A Georgia jury has found New Hampshire-based gunmaker SIG Sauer liable in the shooting of a man who claimed his P320 pistol fired when he did not pull the trigger. The jury also awarded him $2.35 million in damages. It’s the second of several dozen lawsuits involving the company’s flagship...
SCOTUS Affirms Gun Ban for Alleged Domestic Abusers
A federal law that prohibits domestic abusers from possessing guns while under a restraining order is constitutional, the Supreme Court has ruled. The court’s 8-1 decision in United States v. Rahimi puts to rest a constitutional challenge that threatened to invalidate a key protection for domestic violence victims. All but one of the court’s justices joined to uphold the law, reversing a lower court decision that struck down the provision in February 2023.
What It Took to Analyze a Decade of Shootings Near U.S. Schools
On June 18, we published a story about how frequently shootings happen near schools across the United States. The story was based on our analysis of 10 years of data from the Gun Violence Archive as well as records from other sources. Here’s how we did it:. Data on...
Chicago Expands Pilot Program to Help Gun Violence Survivors Cover Their Costs
The City of Chicago plans to announce today that it will expand a program that helps Chicagoans and their families cover the unexpected costs that arise in the immediate aftermath of a shooting or a homicide, a city official told The Trace. The program, which is limited to five neighborhoods,...
Avoiding a Legal Battle, the ATF Has Released Near-Unprecedented Gun Trafficking Data
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has released records detailing the origin of guns smuggled from the United States to Mexico and Central America, marking just the second time in more than 20 years that the agency has disclosed the contents of its firearms tracing database. The records...
New York Lawmakers Push to Fund Overlooked School-Based Violence Prevention Programs
Every week during the school year, in classrooms across New York City, students in neighborhoods hit hardest by gun violence gather to tackle misconceptions about guns and gun carrying, improve their conflict resolution skills, and delve into the root causes of the problem. The program, known as ReACTION, has been...
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