7/9/2020
2/17/2019
2/4/2019
WHAT TO KNOW THIS WEEK
At least 3,321 people were shot in the U.S. in the month of January, 1,211 of them fatally. 249 victims were under 18. [Gun Violence Archive] A new study linked the increase in U.S. handgun ownership over the last 40 years to an increase in the number of children under 5 who die from firearm injuries. [CNN]
U.S. gun sales fell 6 percent in 2018, marking a second straight year of declines. [Reuters]
A week after the Supreme Court agreed to hear a case challenging New York City’s strict gun laws, 23 states asked the Justices to take a case challenging New Jersey’s requirement that residents show a justifiable need in order to obtain a concealed gun permit. [Arizona Republic]
For the first time since the 2011 shooting that critically wounded Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, the House will hold a hearing on gun violence prevention next week. [The Hill]
On the Senate side, Democrats reintroduced a bill that would require federally licensed firearms dealers to securely store their inventory after business hours, an attempt to reduce “smash and grab” robberies. [Senator Dick Durbin]
The FBI closed its investigation of the Las Vegas gunman, concluding his only clear motivation appears to have been to kill as many people as possible and become famous for doing so. [Department of Justice]
After a police officer in Mobile, Alabama, was killed with a gun stolen from an unlocked car, local lawmakers want to levy fines against gun owners who leave firearms in unlocked cars. [WMTV] As we have reported, gun owners who fail to secure their weapons are inadvertently arming the same criminals they’re trying to defend against. [The Trace]
New York lawmakers sent several gun control bills to the governor,including a red flag law, a bump stock ban, and a ban on teachers carrying guns in schools. The legislation also extends the waiting period after an inconclusive background check from three days to 30. [WABC]
In the last year, San Diego has successfully separated 100 “unstable, irresponsible, and dangerous” people from their guns under the state’s red flag law, the city attorney said. [KGTV]
A new report argues that shootings in Chicago are fueled less by gang disputes and more by a lack of opportunity and economic resources. [Chicago Tribune]
In the past 11 months, 200 houses of worship in 34 states have registered armed security teams with a nonprofit called the Faith Based Security Network. [NBC News]
South Dakota residents can now carry concealed guns without a permit or training. Before the governor signed the bill into law on Thursday, the vast majority of South Dakotans favored gun permit requirements. [CNN] South Dakota is the 13th state to adopt “permitless” or “constitutional carry,”one of the NRA’s chief legislative priorities. [The Trace]
MORE FROM OUR REPORTERS
Fed up by the lack of federal funding for gun violence research, a growing number of states are bankrolling their own. Two states have launched publicly funded gun violence research centers in the past two years and two more states are considering it, an attempt to fortify a field long neglected by the federal government. Garen Wintemute, an emergency medicine physician who used his own money to fund research until he was appointed director of California’s government-funded center in 2017, told Elizabeth Van Brocklin that he could recall two times he’s felt particularly optimistic about his work: “The first was in the mid-1990s, when legislation passed that mandated background checks and waiting periods for handgun purchases. The second time is right now.” A gun violence researcher and longtime gun owner argues that more states should raise the minimum purchase age for semiautomatic rifles. Cassandra Crifasi of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health makes the case that people under 21 shouldn’t be able to possess the type of gun used by the 19-year-old Parkland gunman. One reason: “While an 18-year-old’s brain is similar to that of a fully mature adult, key cognitive processes continue to develop until age 26. These include impulse control, which can affect an individual’s ability to safely and appropriately use a gun.” In her guest column, she concludes, “As a proud and longtime gun owner, I believe in the right of law-abiding citizens to own firearms. But I also believe that this right is one the government has both the authority and obligation to regulate in the interest of public safety.”
SOBERING REMINDER OF THE WEEK
Kadie Salfi, an artist from Ithaca, New York, is mounting a solo exhibition at a Brooklyn gallery next weekend that draws attention to the role of guns in domestic violence. She’s calling it “16 Hours,” a reference to the fact that a woman is killed by a current or former romantic partner once every 16 hours in the U.S. (and a statistic that The Trace first calculated from CDC data.) In the show, which runs through March 10, Salfi uses eyeshadow, nail polish, and lipstick to depict brightly colored guns on plywood, and includes sobering captions that allude to intimate partner homicide. The caption for one piece — “Our Girl,” pictured below — is: “this gun killed a girl.” Salfi, who was raised in Vermont, told City Limits, “I have been around guns with friends and family members who hunt my whole life, and fully believe that there are ways to own guns responsibly with smart gun laws. But we have a long way to go.”
IN MEMORIAM
Two childhood friends died in a shooting in Peoria, Illinois, this week. Braden Huerta, 22, and Alijah Sumrell, 23, were in a car when someone opened fire on them early Tuesday. Police have not revealed any suspects. Huerta, whose nickname was “Lil Six,” cherished his family, according to his obituary, and “if you were lucky enough to be one of his friends, you were like family.” He was a competitive gymnast and dancer who won awards for his performances, and taught dance as well. Kids were his favorite students, said Jadyn Rutherford, a former girlfriend, who added, “He was the funniest guy you’d ever meet.” Huerta is survived by his son, his parents, and six siblings. Rutherford said that Sumrell, who went by “Eli,” was in the Army, and lived for his family.
