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All Eyes Are On Chicago Mayor’s First Move on Violence Prevention
Chicagoans who voted Mayor Brandon Johnson into office in April expressed hopes that his community-driven approach to public safety would reduce the city’s gun violence. Now that he’s in office, supporters and critics are closely watching to see if Johnson follows through on his campaign promises to include everyone in the process of making Chicago safer.
Family of Slain College Baseball Star Sues SIG Sauer Over Alleged Pistol Defect
SIG Sauer, the New Hampshire-based gunmaker embroiled in controversy surrounding its most popular handgun model, is facing new claims that one of its other weapons has a lethal defect. In a lawsuit filed June 6, the family of Dalton Harrell alleges that the 21-year-old was killed when a SIG Sauer...
Marijuana, Guns, and the Silver Lining Some Progressives See in Bruen
This story is the second issue of our newsletter The Trajectory. Subscribe here or below to get future editions in your inbox. The Supreme Court’s decision in New York Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen has fundamentally changed gun law in the U.S. In addition to striking down New York’s century-old concealed carry permitting scheme and establishing a right to carry a loaded gun in public, it upended the way courts evaluate all types of regulations. Citing Bruen, judges have struck down laws that set age restrictions on gun ownership, prohibit the removal of firearm serial numbers, and bar domestic abusers and those under felony indictment from possessing weapons.
25 Books to Help You Understand Gun Violence
Gun violence is complicated. There are myriad ways to explore the issue, from sociology and history to criminology and public health. That’s why we weren’t surprised when a reader reached out with this question: “I’m looking for some good books that survey the whole gun violence issue in the United States. Recommendations?”
In America, Accidental Shootings Among Children Occur Nearly Every Other Day
On May 16, in Houston, a 4-year-old boy found a gun that belonged to a visiting relative and shot his 1-year-old brother in the leg, wounding him. Their father told a local news outlet that his older son liked to play with toy guns and probably didn’t realize this one was real.
New Jersey’s Effort to Pave the Way for Smart Guns Hits Another Bump
The new smart gun from the firearms technology company Biofire is seemingly everything New Jersey State Senators Loretta Weinberg and Richard Codey envisioned when they authored the state’s Childproof Handgun Law in 2002. Equipped with facial recognition and fingerprint verification to ensure that only authorized users may handle it, the 9mm handgun became available for pre-order in April. Its “smart” features are designed to reduce accidental shootings by children, suicides, and the use of stolen guns in crimes.
Illinois Legislators Want to Expand Prison Alternatives for Gun Possession
In May 2019, 20-year-old John was charged with possessing a weapon, a felony in Illinois. Police officers found a gun and John’s ID in an abandoned home next to his sister’s house in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood. John says he has never owned a gun and didn’t know how his ID ended up there. While out on bond, John wore an ankle monitor for almost six months.
Appeals Court Partially Blocks ATF’s Pistol Brace Rule
A federal appeals court has temporarily blocked the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from fully enforcing a new rule regulating guns equipped with pistol braces, a popular gun accessory that has been used in some recent mass shootings. The scope of the court’s injunction is likely to be limited, however, and is unlikely to prevent the ATF from enforcing the rule nationally.
What If the CDC Could Track Gun Violence Like a Virus?
This story is the first issue of our newsletter The Trajectory. Subscribe here or below to get future editions in your inbox. Last week, when I told my friends and family that I was heading to Milwaukee to attend the National Violent Death Reporting System Conference, I was met with some version of the same response: “That doesn’t sound fun.” Who could blame them? The name doesn’t exactly conjure happy thoughts.
Introducing ‘The Trajectory’: A Newsletter About Where We Go From Here
Every year, more than 40,000 people are killed by gunfire in the United States. Tens of thousands more are injured by firearms, and the trauma of these shootings reverberates through families, friends, and communities. These numbers are essential to our understanding of America’s gun violence crisis. That’s why The Trace...
After the Tops Shooting, Residents of Buffalo’s East Side Hoped for Reinvestment. They’re Still Waiting.
On the day of the mass shooting in Buffalo last May, Jillian Hanesworth was celebrating her childhood friend’s baby shower. When Hanesworth’s phone pinged with panicked messages and calls, she changed out of her dress and drove to Tops Friendly Market on Jefferson. It was the only supermarket on Buffalo’s East Side, where she grew up, and the place where, for two minutes, a white supremacist had attacked her neighbors with an assault-style rifle.
After a Race Centered on Gun Violence, Cherelle Parker Wins Philadelphia Democratic Mayoral Primary
Against a backdrop of gun violence that has resulted in 1,500 fatal shootings since 2020, Philadelphia’s voters chose Cherelle Parker — who has pledged to prioritize ending the crisis — as the Democratic nominee for mayor on Tuesday. Gun violence has been at the center of this...
Permitless Carry: These States Allow Gun Owners to Carry Without a License
In 2013, nearly every state in the U.S. required that adults obtain a permit to legally carry a concealed firearm in public. Just four — Vermont, Alaska, Arizona, and Wyoming — didn’t require a permit. A decade later, the national landscape has reversed: A majority of states...
How You Can Help The Trace Do More Vital Reporting
So much of media coverage today is dominated by breaking news. But when the goal is impact — as it is for us at The Trace — you often have to play the long game. Occasionally, our nonprofit journalism has driven immediate results. A few years ago, for instance, a Trace reporter was chasing down a story tip indicating that a lawyer for the NRA had not disclosed a past ethics sanction to the judge presiding over their case (as required by court procedures). The reporter called the court for comment. Within hours, the judge had ordered the lawyer to explain the omission — and later removed them from the case.
Gun Violence Isn’t Just a City Problem
Politicians and news media coverage have fueled a widespread belief that gun violence primarily affects urban communities. But researchers are urging the public to understand that shootings are a universal issue — and that many rural Americans experience higher rates of gun death than their big-city counterparts. That’s the...
Congressional Democrats Introduce Bill Targeting Machine Gun Conversion Devices
Congressional Democrats have introduced legislation to focus federal efforts on reducing the proliferation of illegal machine gun conversion devices, also known as auto sears. The Preventing Illegal Weapons Trafficking Act, introduced on May 2, would direct the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of the Treasury to develop “a coordinated national strategy” to prevent the importation and trafficking of auto sears. It would also instruct the attorney general to collect data on the recovery of the devices in crimes and include it in an annual firearms trafficking report.
Chicago’s Violence Prevention Committee Hasn’t Met In Nearly Two Years
Three years after Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration created a Violence Prevention Planning Committee meant to hold the city accountable for reducing violence, records show that the group is now defunct after just two meetings. In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the mayor’s office said there...
New York Bill Seeks to Make Lockdown Drills Less Traumatic for Students
Amid mounting criticism of active shooter drills in schools as ineffective and often traumatic, New York lawmakers are taking steps to reduce their frequency. A bill introduced in the state legislature on April 26 would limit the number of mandatory lockdown drills to one per year, down from the four that are currently required. The measure would also require schools to notify families a week in advance of a lockdown drill and give them the option to opt out.
Lawmakers Push for Guns to be Regulated Like Other Products
A new investigation from The Trace and The Washington Post documenting allegations that one of America’s most popular pistols fires without the user pulling the trigger prompted renewed calls to repeal a decades-old amendment that exempts firearms from the oversight of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. “Why are guns...
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