Q & A

Q & A

Want to Hack a Smart Gun? You’ll Need a Giant Magnet, Says Industry Pioneer

Ernst Mauch talks with The Trace about the future of high-tech firearms.

Domestic Violence

Some Lawmakers Think Abuse Victims Need Easier Access to Guns. This Survivor Believes They’re Dead Wrong.

Lawmakers and gun-rights advocates have called for arming abuse victims, but few battered women are mentally and emotionally prepared to pull the trigger.

Politics

A Political Scientist Explains the Exaggerated Reactions to Obama’s Executive Actions on Guns

Duke University professor Kristin Goss analyzes the response from both sides of the issue.

National Rifle Association

The Ex-Congressman Behind the Ban on Federal Gun Violence Research Explains His Big Regrets

"My conscience wasn't doing well," says Jay Dickey, who adds that he never intended his budget amendment to prohibit the CDC from studying firearm deaths and injuries.

Q & A

A Historian’s Revealing Research on Race and Gun Laws

Saul Cornell is a leading authority on the evolution of U.S. firearm regulations. Here's how he views the claim that restrictions on gun rights have racist origins.

Q & A

Jackie Speier Is a Rare Politician — One Who’s Survived Being Shot

Left for dead in the 1978 Jonestown massacre, the California congresswoman revisits the episode that sparked her career-long crusade for gun reform.

Q & A

A Psychiatrist Debunks the Biggest Myths Surrounding Gun Suicides

"If you save someone's life from a suicide attempt," says Georgetown professor Liza Gold, "there's a very good chance that you really are permanently saving their life."

Q & A

A Gun Store Manager on Why It Shouldn’t Take a Trial to Spot a Straw Purchase

Shooters Shop sits just down the road from the notorious gun seller once known as Badger Guns. Here's how it avoids repeating its neighbor's offenses.

Q & A

Texas Professor Warns That Guns in Classrooms Could Dumb Down Provocative Lessons

Lisa Moore teaches gay and lesbian studies at the University of Texas, where she is a founder of Gun-Free UT. "Shutting down dissent and free speech," she says, "is the opposite of what should happen on a college campus."

Q & A

When a Bullet Enters a Body: Gun Violence as Seen by a Trauma Surgeon

'In movies you always die quickly from a gunshot wound. But not in real life.'

Q & A

Life as a Gunshot Survivor: A Young Sociologist Sheds New Light on a Hidden Cost of Firearms Violence

Jooyoung Lee documents the very painful ways that shooting injuries transform vibrant young men.

Q & A

A Baltimore Crime Reporter on What People Don’t Understand About the City’s Gun Violence

Justin George has covered Baltimore's endless shootings from the ground. Here's what residents have told the Sun journalist could help reduce the killing.

Q & A

The Doctor Who Tries to Cure Gun Violence By Treating It Like a Contagious Disease

An innovative program by epidemiologist Gary Slutkin has helped reduce violence in some urban neighborhoods by up to 70 percent.

Q & A

A Former Cop on the Subculture That Leads to Fatal Police Shootings

Criminologist Tom Nolan blames poor discipline for the shooting deaths of unarmed men like Michael Brown.

Extremism

A Former Neo-Nazi on What Hate Groups See in Guns

Arno Michaelis saw firsthand how white supremacists like Dylann Roof are arming themselves for a race war.