“Long Shadow: In Guns We Trust” has been nominated for a Peabody Award in the category of public service.
The limited podcast series hosted by Pulitzer-finalist Garrett Graff was produced by Long Lead and Campside Media, and reported in collaboration with The Trace. The series, which launched last year at the same time as the 25th anniversary of Columbine, contextualizes the mass shooting’s long-lasting impact on American society and connects it to the country’s gun violence epidemic.
In addition to the Peabody nomination, the series was honored as a finalist for best podcast at the 40th Annual International Documentary Association Awards and garnered three Signal Awards (for Best History Podcast, Best Documentary Podcast, and Best Activism, Public Service, & Social Impact Podcast). It was also named a “top” or “best” podcast of the year by Audible, The Week, and Mashable.
This first episode examined how Columbine catalyzed a cultural and political shift in America’s relationship with guns, setting the foundation for the rest of the season, which helps listeners understand why America finds itself in an intractable position over gun violence today. In the third episode, the show examines the National Rifle Association’s rise and enduring influence on legislatures and the gun rights movement. And despite the gun violence that continues to plague the country today, the podcast’s finale looks for hope amid a new generation of Americans raised in a country where firearms are more prevalent — and problematic — than ever.
Since its premiere, “Long Shadow: In Guns We Trust” has been downloaded nearly half-a-million times across every U.S. state. The season garnered attention from influential newsletters and has been rebroadcast on dozens of radio stations across the country.
A month after its final episode aired, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory declaring gun violence “a public health crisis.”
Investigating America’s gun violence crisis
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The Trace is also a finalist for IRE’s Freedom of Information (FOI) Award for its investigation into police guns
“Shot by a Civilian Wielding a Police Gun” — an investigation produced in partnership with Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting and CBS News and Stations — is a finalist for Investigative Reporters and Editors’ Freedom of Information Award.
The investigation, published last year, revealed that more than 52,000 former police guns had resurfaced in robberies, domestic violence incidents, homicides, and other crimes between 2006 and 2022. Many of those guns found their way into civilian hands after agencies traded them to retailers for discounts on new equipment or resold them to their own officers.
“Journalists at CBS News and The Trace filed more than 200 public records requests nationwide to investigate how thousands of guns once owned by police departments have been resold and used in crimes,” judges wrote about the investigation.
The Trace and CBS News subsequently contacted 60 law enforcement agencies with a history of reselling guns to ask whether they had changed their policies. More than a dozen law enforcement agencies stopped resales or pledged to reconsider the practice after the investigation was published.
