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In Philadelphia, Community Violence Comes to School
This story was published in partnership with Chalkbeat. Russell Conwell Middle School is housed in a 98-year-old building in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood. The school’s brick walls and locked metal front doors serve as a fortress for its 176 fifth- through eighth-grade students, who are being educated in one of the city’s most dangerous areas.
Just Outside the School Gate, America’s Gun Violence Epidemic Surrounds Its Students
This story was published in partnership with Chalkbeat. On November 7, as school was getting out for the day, one teenager shot another across from Morristown-Hamblen West High School in Morristown, Tennessee, an Appalachian town of 31,000 people. As a precaution, the school was placed on lockdown, as were other schools and childcare facilities in the area.
Supreme Court Strikes Down Ban on Rapid-Fire Bump Stocks
The U.S. Supreme Court has struck down a Trump-era regulation that effectively banned bump stocks, aftermarket accessories that make semiautomatic rifles fire more like machine guns. The devices were used in the deadliest mass shooting in American history. The justices split along ideological lines. A majority of six found that...
In Chicago, a Community Race Displays a Side of Little Village That Doesn’t Make the News
This post was adapted from an edition of The Trace’s Chicago newsletter. Sign up to get exclusive updates like this sent straight to your inbox. On a sunny Saturday morning last month, as Anahí Perez walked through Chicago’s La Villita Park, she thought of her nephew. Juan “Juanito” Medina Jr. was born when she was still in high school, an age gap small enough that she felt like they had grown up together. He was 14 years old when he was killed in the Chicago Lawn late last year, the victim of a shooting that also took his grandfather’s life. Perez was in the park that day to honor Juanito by participating in the fourth annual Carrera Por La Paz, or Race For Peace.
The Trace Is Hiring an Editor to Lead Its Gun Violence Data Hub
The Trace is hiring an editor to lead the The Gun Violence Data Hub, a new initiative that aims to increase the accessibility and use of data about gun violence by journalists. This is an opportunity to be a founding member of an important, first-of-its-kind project to provide the media...
The Trace Is Hiring a Great Lakes Reporter
The Trace is hiring a reporter who lives in the Great Lakes region to cover gun violence across Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. We are looking for someone who can thoroughly report stories as assigned and help spot new ones, who is familiar with the region and has the flexibility to travel within it, and has an enterprising spirit that will help them deliver in-depth coverage on our beat. The ideal candidate has six to 15 years experience and a proven ability to develop sources, identify juicy areas for accountability reporting, and get records and information through requests and human sources.
‘This Is Our Lane:’ Health Experts to Lead First-Of-Its-Kind Anti-Violence Council
Brady United, a national gun violence prevention group, announced today the launch of its first national advisory council, whose goal is to address gun violence through a public health lens by placing leading healthcare experts at the helm. “This Is Our Lane,” a council chaired by gun violence survivor and...
How to Apply for Funeral and Burial Assistance in Illinois
If you – or someone you know – had a child under 17 who was killed by gun violence, you might be eligible for compensation from the state of Illinois to cover funeral and burial costs. The Mychal Moultry Jr. Funeral and Burial Assistance Program went into effect on July 1, 2023, to help relieve the financial burden that comes with this unexpected loss. As The Trace previously reported, many don’t know about the program and have not applied for help, so we’re breaking it down and sharing everything you need to know. You can find the application online here.
What to Know About the Gun Charges Against Hunter Biden
Witness testimony will continue on June 5 in the gun case against President Joe Biden’s son Hunter. The younger Biden, who is on trial in Wilmington, Delaware, is accused of having lied on background check forms when buying a revolver in 2018. Although the crime is punishable by more than two decades in prison, it’s unlikely that Biden would receive the maximum penalty if convicted.
New Jersey Ditched Cash Bail. Research Shows the Reform Didn’t Increase Violence.
In 2012, more than 1,500 people sat in New Jersey jails because they didn’t have, at most, $2,500 to pay bail. Those 1,500-odd people — about 12 percent of all people jailed in the Garden State that year — had neither been convicted of a crime nor faced trial, and were stuck behind bars only because they didn’t have access to cash.
Trump’s Conviction Bars Him From Owning Guns. Will He Hand His Over?
Former President Donald Trump, Second Amendment supporter and friend to the National Rifle Association, is now a convicted felon. That means he can’t own guns. Anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in prison is barred from possessing firearms under federal law. On May 30, Trump was convicted by a New York jury of 34 counts of falsifying business records, a Class E felony that carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison. Trump is thus outlawed from owning guns even if he is ultimately sentenced to probation.
Illinois Promised to Help With Funeral Costs for Children Lost to Gun Violence. Only Two Families Have Benefitted.
The Mychal Moultry Jr. Funeral and Burial Assistance Program is supposed to give Illinois families with severe financial needs up to $10,000 to help bury children under 17 who were killed by gun violence. But almost a year after the measure went into effect, only eight people across the state have applied. Two of them have received funds.
The NRA’s Post-LaPierre Leadership Includes an Election Denier and Execs Tied to Its Financial Issues
The National Rifle Association elected several officers on May 20 who have been allied with a reform bloc of board members and hailed by some as marking a new chapter for the organization. Those elevated to power, however, include people tied to past misuse of NRA funds and a board member who conspired to overturn the 2020 election.
How Did Guns Become America’s Political Third Rail? Our New Podcast Explains.
“Long Shadow: In Guns We Trust” has officially completed its run — so you can now binge the entire podcast. It’s a story about how guns became America’s political third rail, how people find hope in the wake of tragedy, and how Gen Z are taking the lead on gun safety. It is deeply and humanely reported and features research from The Trace’s senior news writer Jennifer Mascia, who’s been covering this beat for 11 years.
The Sandy Hook Generation Reinvigorates the Gun Safety Movement
On the final episode of “Long Shadow: In Guns We Trust,” host Garrett Graff examines the toll gun violence has taken on Gen Z, whose lives have been defined by school lockdowns and active shooter drills unimaginable to previous generations. Today’s twentysomethings came of age in the shadow...
The Trace Wins Award for Story on Child Toll of Domestic Violence
The Trace’s reporting on the dangers domestic gun violence poses to children was recognized by the New York City chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists with a 2024 Deadline Club Award at an awards ceremony on May 16, 2024. Senior news writer Jennifer Mascia’s sweeping piece, “Dangerous Homes:...
The Trace Adds Two Journalists to Growing Team
We are pleased to welcome two innovative journalists to the gun violence beat. Ava Sasani started this week as the inaugural staffer for our Gun Violence Data Hub, and Alma Beauvais joined The Trace last month as our first-ever editorial assistant. Beauvais has interned for The Nation and The Miami...
The Supreme Court’s Ghost Gun Case Could Jeopardize Other Firearm Regulations
In April, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take up a case challenging the Biden administration’s efforts to curb the sale of homemade, untraceable “ghost guns” that are frequently used in crimes. The case seeks to topple a rule imposed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms...
Shot by a Civilian Wielding a Police Gun
This story was produced in partnership with Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting and CBS News and Stations. Candace Leslie was leaving church when she got the call she will never forget. “All I heard was his girlfriend yelling in the phone, and she was like, ‘Cameron! Cameron! …...
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