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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...
Apply to The Trace’s Second Survivor Storytelling Workshop in Chicago
Last year, we created the Survivor Storytelling Network — a program that recruited, paid, and trained survivors of gun violence to tell their own stories. Over the course of several months, survivors learned about storytelling and journalism basics, and were coached through a compassionate editing process. Their stories were published in collaboration with several newsrooms across the city, and also inspired accountability reporting from The Trace.
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! …...
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...
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