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Biden Called on States to Create Violence Prevention Offices. Maryland Answered.
In Baltimore, an RV painted in vibrant blues and greens and branded with the words “Healing In Community” serves as the mobile headquarters for a roving team of violence interrupters and crisis responders. For the past year and a half, Operation Respond has provided services to those at...
How a SCOTUS Decision Led to an Unprecedented Gun Sales Boom
For most of American history, gun ownership was understood to be a collective right tied to militia membership. But that changed in 2008, when The U.S. Supreme Court established for the first time that gun ownership is an individual right. In Episode 5 of “Long Shadow: In Guns We Trust,” host Garrett Graff speaks with the architect of the seismic District of Columbia v. Heller case about his search for the perfect plaintiff, and his surprising views on gun regulation today.
The Mothers Holding Onto the Likenesses of Children Lost to Gun Violence
Tracey Brumfield lost her son, Keshawn Slaughter, to gun violence seven years ago. To keep him present through their grief, her family has turned to a life-size cardboard cutout of the 26-year-old. The cutout is a tool that families across Chicago have embraced. While a few mothers hug them every...
Philly’s District Attorney Convicts Cops for Wrongful Killings. Critics Say He’s Driving Up Crime.
Before Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner took office in 2018, the last time a city police officer was convicted for an on-duty killing was during the Carter administration in 1978. Before that, the only other conviction of a Philly officer for wrongfully killing someone took place in 1870, when Ulysses S. Grant was president.
The Rise of the AR-15
The 1990s brought federal gun reform to the United States for the first time in 25 years, starting with the Brady Bill, which passed in 1993 after a seven-year slog through Congress. The foundational gun law required licensed gun dealers to conduct background checks nationwide for the first time. But...
Community Members Are Just Starting to Heal From Philly’s Eid Shooting. Has the Media Already Moved On?
This post was adapted from an edition of The Trace’s Philadelphia newsletter. Subscribe via this link or the widget below to get exclusive dispatches delivered straight to your inbox each month. The Philadelphia Masjid is steps away from my old way, and it’s still home to family and old...
The Trace Is Hiring a News Developer
The Trace is hiring a news developer to be a core member of The Gun Violence Data Hub, a new initiative that aims to increase the accessibility and use of data in journalism about gun violence. We need your help to reinvent how gun violence is covered and visualized. As...
In A Decade, Firearm Deaths Among Young Black People in Rural America Have Quadrupled
For decades, the narrative of gun violence and homicide has been framed as an urban plight disproportionately affecting Black communities in densely populated Northeastern and Midwestern cities. But a new analysis has found that firearm deaths among young Black people in rural locales are on par with — if not higher than — those in cities.
After Showing Promise in Four Cities, a Collaborative Anti-Violence Initiative Expands to Four More
In February 2023, four Black-led national anti-violence organizations embarked on an ambitious initiative to reduce community gun violence. The Coalition to Advance Public Safety, the collaborative effort they launched, began with a cohort of four cities: Baltimore; Indianapolis; Newark, New Jersey; and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. CAPS’s mission is straightforward but...
Losing Her Daughter to Gunfire Left Her Inconsolable. A Trauma Recovery Center Saved Her Life.
This March, Alexis Jackson worked tirelessly to make sure all the details of her oldest daughter’s Sweet 16 were perfect: a heart-shaped cake in Abe’bre’anna’s favorite color, purple; a glittering Eiffel Tower backdrop in the Paris theme; tables topped with shiny purple tablecloths; and a carefully combed-over guest list. But as the room erupted with the voices of the teenager’s closest friends and family singing “Happy Birthday” on March 16, one special person was missing — Abe’bre’anna.
The Neighborhoods Missing From Chicago’s Community Safety Plans
Robbie Johnson is raising her family’s fourth generation of children in North Lawndale. As a little girl there, she felt safe and free — but the neighborhood, she said, has changed. “It was easier for me to walk to the corner store,” Johnson said. “Now, I don’t want my son walking nowhere.” Even though he’s 21, she continues to drive him around the corner to the gym.
Road Rage Shootings Have Surged Over the Past Decade
Road rage shootings are on the rise across the United States as drivers increasingly turn to firearms to vent their frustrations — with often tragic consequences. Between 2014 and 2023, the number of people shot in road rage incidents surged more than 400 percent, from 92 to 481, according to a Trace analysis of data from the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive. All told, angry drivers shot 3,095 people over that decade, or nearly one every day. One in four of those people — 777 — were killed.
Introducing the Gun Violence Data Hub
Part of the reason America’s gun violence crisis is hard to understand is that data on the problem is hard to access and make sense of. The data that does exist is often incomplete and unreliable. Federal and state funding to study the issue is scant. And legislation prevents the collection and distribution of records that could reveal important facts about how and why violence persists.
How the NRA Forged Its Scorched-Earth Strategy
In the first two episodes of “Long Shadow: In Guns We Trust,” host Garrett Graff explored the legacy of Columbine and how the Second Amendment became a rallying cry for the nascent gun lobby. The third episode dives deep into the National Rifle Association, focusing on the personalities who drove its rightward shift — with dire consequences for the country.
Philadelphians Don’t Want to Clean Up Blood After a Shooting. Help is Coming Soon.
In my first month at The Trace, I wrote about my experience with a growing problem in Philadelphia: As shootings increased, more residents were left responsible for cleaning up the blood. I recalled the traumatic and painful day that my mother had to wash a man’s blood off of her steps after saving his life. My mother, who didn’t know about all the organizations that exist to help survivors in the city, wound up cleaning by hand.
Savage Arms Found a Possible Defect in Its Popular Hunting Rifle — And Kept Selling It, Court Records Show
Navy veteran Kelli McAllister, 53, was hunting deer in North Florida in February 2021 when her Savage Arms Axis II rifle went off unexpectedly. The gun had snagged on a camouflage tarp as she climbed a ladder into a treehouse lookout, and when she tried to jostle the weapon free, it fired.
Cities, States, and Now Grieving Families Are Taking Ghost Gun Makers to Court
In the last several weeks of Sahmya Heaven Garcia’s young life, she sought a protective order against a former boyfriend who had become her stalker. Despite her vigilance, as she walked to work from her South Philadelphia apartment on the morning of November 8, 2022, Garcia’s stalker gunned her down on a street corner, shooting her 11 times with what authorities said was a Glock-styled ghost gun — a self-assembled firearm often sold and purchased online. She was 20 years old.
NRA Foundation Agrees to Reform to Settle D.C. Case
The National Rifle Association’s charitable arm has agreed to implement significant reforms to resolve a lawsuit brought by the District of Columbia over the group’s alleged misuse of funds. D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb announced the settlement on April 17. Schwalb’s predecessor, Attorney General Karl Racine, filed the...
Buffalo Saw an ‘Unheard Of’ Drop in Gun Violence Last Year. What’s Behind the Success?
In his more than three decades of working to reduce violence in Buffalo, New York, Pastor James Giles has seen it all — the spikes and the reversions to the mean; when it’s “popping off” and when it’s quieter than usual. Giles is a self-described...
Guns Are As Old As America — But So Are Gun Laws
It’s hard to imagine, but for most of American history, guns were not a contentious topic. The Second Amendment wasn’t a matter of much debate or even thought — until the 1920s and ‘30s. That’s when Tommy guns, the first handheld machine guns, were implicated in...
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