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How the NRA Helped Gunmakers Become Almost Impossible to Sue
Produced by WBUR in partnership with The Trace, our new podcast The Gun Machine looks into the past to bring you a story that most Americans never learned in history class. Listen and follow on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. In 1999, at the end...
Will Maine’s Permissive Gun Laws Change After the Lewiston Shooting?
In Maine, which suffered the deadliest mass shooting in its history on October 25, guns are a fact of life. Nearly half of all households own one, mostly for hunting and recreation, sometimes for self-defense. The state’s gun access laws are permissive — there are no background checks on private sales, and residents don’t need a permit or training to carry a concealed gun in public. Its gun homicide rate is so low that it’s been hard to justify the need for tighter regulation. And with no history of public mass shootings to point to, this arrangement seemed to be working.
A Guide to Understanding Mass Shootings in America
Mass shootings have become so frequent in America that we are often left with the feeling that random, indiscriminate gunfire can happen anywhere, without warning. In recent years, gunmen have killed moviegoers at a theater; people at a gay nightclub and a country-western bar; young children in elementary schools; and worshipers at churches, mosques, and synagogues. This week marks the five-year anniversary of the country’s deadliest antisemitic shooting, in Pittsburgh, and last night a man killed at least 18 people, wounding dozens more, in a series of attacks across Lewiston, Maine. In 2021, the U.S. had 690 shootings with four or more victims. Last year had the second-highest count, at 645. So far this year, the United States has endured 565 mass shootings in 298 days.
American Cops Felt Outgunned. Their War on Crime Built a Militarized Police Force.
Produced by WBUR in partnership with The Trace, our new podcast The Gun Machine looks into the past to bring you a story that most Americans never learned in history class. Listen and follow on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. From 1966 through the 1990s,...
Where Do California’s Leading Senate Candidates Stand on Guns?
The late Senator Dianne Feinstein’s career was shaped by a shooting: In 1978, on the same day she told reporters she was quitting politics, Feinstein discovered the body of San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk, who had been assassinated in his City Hall office along with Mayor George Moscone. Then the president of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors, Feinstein assumed Moscone’s position — and spent much of the ensuing decades, from San Francisco to the U.S. Senate, pursuing gun reform.
As Philadelphia Struggles to Hire Cops, More Businesses Are Turning to Private Armed Guards
At a recent West Philadelphia community fair for people seeking to have criminal charges expunged from their records, children defied gravity on bouncy houses and residents grooved to the beats of homegrown rappers. Steps away, four armed guards were on patrol to prevent new crimes from being committed. Across the...
The Evolution of the Crime Gun
Produced by WBUR in partnership with The Trace, our new podcast The Gun Machine looks into the past to bring you a story that most Americans never learned in history class. Listen and follow on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. Gun crime in the U.S....
Illinois Legislators Introduce Karina’s Bill to Remove Guns from Abusers
Twelve days before Karina González and her 15-year-old daughter were fatally shot — allegedly by her husband — on July 3, she submitted an order of protection against him that could have removed the weapon that police say ended their lives. These orders are meant to protect...
How the Mass Market Was Won
Produced by WBUR in partnership with The Trace, our new podcast The Gun Machine looks into the past to bring you a story that most Americans never learned in history class. Listen and follow on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. The American government funded the...
Why Are Shootings Plummeting in New Orleans?
New Orleans experienced a welcome anomaly in early September: The Big Easy went nearly two weeks without anyone dying from a shooting. Over a 12-day period from September 1 to September 12, the Police Department reported no homicides and hardly any nonfatal shootings. It was the first time the city had gone that long without a homicide since October 2019, a year when the city saw the fewest homicides in nearly half a century.
A Decade of Mass Shootings, By the Numbers
America is on track to have a record number of mass shootings this year. So far in 2023 there have been 531 incidents in which four or more people were wounded or killed with guns, according to Gun Violence Archive, which tracks shootings through news and police reports. That’s 17 more than this time last year. At this rate, we could surpass last year’s toll of 645 mass shootings, the second-highest total on record.
The Gun Industry’s Trade Group Is Using Flimsy Data in Big Court Cases
Ever since the Supreme Court held, in 2008, that weapons in “common use” can’t be banned, lower courts have argued over what the term means. The National Shooting Sports Foundation, the gun industry’s trade group, has dragged questionable evidence into the now urgent debate. In June,...
A Culture of Fear Sells Guns in the U.S. This Is How We Got Here.
Produced by WBUR in partnership with The Trace, our new podcast The Gun Machine looks into the past to bring you a story that most Americans never learned in history class. Listen and follow on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. Handgun advertisers often insist that...
The Surprising Origin Story of America’s Gun Industry
Produced by WBUR in partnership with The Trace, our new podcast The Gun Machine looks into the past to bring you a story that most Americans never learned in history class. Listen and follow on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. Our country would look very...
Why Are Gun Ads So Uncommon?
Turn on the television today or scroll through social media, and you’re likely to see an endless stream of advertisements promoting everything from regional grocery store chains to retractable patio awnings. Beyond a handful of conspicuous absences — cigarette companies, for example, have not been permitted to advertise without graphic warnings in the U.S. since the 1980s — Americans see thousands of ads per day, featuring most every product or service available to consumers.
The White House Launched an Office of Gun Violence Prevention. Here’s What We Know.
Gun reform advocates have been waiting for this for years. On Friday, President Joe Biden officially announced that he would be signing an executive order to create a new White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. In the Rose Garden, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were surrounded by dozens of advocates, activists, lawmakers, and victims of gun violence who have been pushing for such a move.
‘What Makes the City Safe’: Philadelphians Want More Specifics From Mayoral Candidates
Do Philadelphia’s mayoral candidates — a Black woman and an Asian American man — have specific plans to address the crisis of Black males being swept up in the city’s gun violence crisis?. How will the city and its new top cop repair the damage caused...
Biden Expected to Establish Office of Gun Violence Prevention
Since before he took office in January 2021, dozens of organizations that advocate for gun reform have been asking President Joe Biden to create a federal office focused solely on preventing gun violence. As early as November 2020, some 85 advocacy groups told the Biden transition team that a dedicated office could help coordinate a national response to the crisis.
Introducing ‘The Gun Machine’: A Podcast About How America Was Forged by the Gun Industry
Every time there is a mass shooting in America, the first question is why. When we look for answers, we tend to focus on the incident itself: who the shooter was, why they did it, and who parachutes in to debate the state of regulation, or lack thereof, that allowed it to happen. What we forget is the centuries of history that got us to this long emergency of gun violence in America.
Violence Prevention Programs Aim to Reach Young People. They Have to Earn Their Trust First.
In 2023, Tyree Belfield, 24, was acquitted two years after he was accused of fatally shooting a young man. Despite never being convicted, headlines portraying him as a criminal continue to appear online, affecting the way the world sees him and taking away job opportunities. As he continues his legal...
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