Every year, more than 40,000 people are killed by gunfire in the United States. Tens of thousands more are injured by firearms, and the trauma of these shootings reverberates through families, friends, and communities.
These numbers are essential to our understanding of America’s gun violence crisis. That’s why The Trace covers them every day — in our newsletters, in our stories, and in our projects — as the only newsroom dedicated solely to reporting on this issue. But the epidemic will never abate if we focus only on the problem. We have to look at potential solutions, too.
With that in mind, The Trace is launching The Trajectory, a newsletter exploring the people, policies, and programs grappling with America’s gun violence problem.
The Trajectory — coming May 23 — will highlight the stories of individuals and communities taking action to reduce gun violence, as well as the innovative programs and policies that are making a difference. If you sign up, I’ll be in your inbox every two weeks with expert analysis and commentary from a range of voices, alongside my own reporting and insights.
A little bit about me: For the past three years, I’ve covered gun violence and gun policy at The Trace. When I first started, I had a more limited grasp of what can be done to address this crisis. Since then, I’ve learned a lot about what’s out there, covering local community-led intervention efforts, state policies aimed at reducing violence, and even last year’s Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. Looking for paths forward has helped assuage some of the discouragement all of us who report on this beat often feel.
My goal is to provide you with valuable insights, and maybe some hope, to help you better understand the complexities of gun violence in America. I can’t promise that this newsletter will make you optimistic about the state of gun violence in America, but it will at least highlight potential paths out of this epidemic, even if they’re just small steps. I won’t avoid the tough subjects or the hard truths, but each edition will offer thoughts about how to move forward. That said, I don’t want this to be a one-way conversation. I hope you subscribe to and read The Trajectory, but I also want you to participate. If you have ideas or thoughts, please share them with me. And if you know someone who you think would like to join in on the conversation, you can send them this post or share our signup page to subscribe.
