Tomorrow, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Ohio Senator JD Vance will take the stage at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City for the only scheduled debate between the vice presidential candidates. Vance and Walz seem poised to spar over gun policy, as the debate comes only weeks after two high-profile mass shootings and a second attempted assassination on former President Donald Trump. 

As my colleague Champe Barton reported last week, the VP contenders have different records on gun issues. Walz evolved into a reformer over the course of his 15-plus-year political career. Throughout his time in Congress, he earned A ratings from the NRA and rarely supported gun violence prevention measures. It wasn’t until his 2017 gubernatorial run — which overlapped with two of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history — that Walz articulated full-throated support for gun reform. He supports red flag laws, universal background checks, and other common gun safety measures. 

Vance rose to national prominence around 2016, signaling some support for red flag laws after the Parkland shooting and saying at one event that the government “should make it easier to take those guns out of the hands of people who are about to use them to murder large numbers of people” — though he also said that could conflict with the Second Amendment. During his 2022 Senate run, Vance expressed opposition to red flag laws, assault weapons bans, and universal background checks.

From The Trace

What to Know Today

Earlier this year, Minneapolis’s Neighborhood Safety Office, which oversees funding for violence prevention programs, faced accusations of financial mismanagement, fraud, and a lack of oversight. During the chaotic period, several violence prevention groups said their staff went months without being paid, while funding for police, fire, and EMS staff remained in place. New Trace reporter Josiah Bates reports that the situation in Minneapolis is exemplary of how cities across the country have hamstrung promising violence intervention programs. [The Appeal] 

As Chicago seeks to ramp up its mental health services, the city announced that the Crisis Assistance Response and Engagement, its mental health emergency response program, will now operate without police officers or fire department paramedics. Some progressive city leaders have previously criticized the program’s use of armed police officers. [Block Club Chicago]

Far-right extremists have long used the chat platform Telegram to celebrate mass murderers and plan — or inspire — mass violence themselves, sometimes using guns as an organizing tactic. The arrest of two alleged leaders of the Terrorgram Collective, a group of white supremacists accused of inciting others on the platform to commit racist killings, spurred panic in Telegram channels linked to the collective and calls from members to leave the platform. [ProPublica and FRONTLINE] 

The University of Wyoming is reevaluating its policy of allowing no one but law enforcement to carry firearms on its campus. The review comes after Governor Mark Gordon vetoed legislation that would have banned gun-free zones, but called on educational institutions to “take up these difficult conversations again and establish policies that allow for the safe carry of concealed weapons within their facilities.” At a recent hearing, the majority of speakers said they didn’t support changing the policy, with some citing the state’s high suicide rates. [WyoFile] 

The Texas Supreme Court refused state Attorney General Ken Paxton’s request to stop the State Fair, which opened on Friday, from enforcing a new policy that bans most people from bringing guns to the event. The court ruled that it “cannot possibly order the State Fair to allow handguns to be carried” at this year’s fair. The policy was announced in response to a shooting on the fairgrounds last year. [The Dallas Morning News] 

Black women are disproportionately victimized by violent crime. During a march for crime survivors in Washington, D.C., some Black women attendees — both survivors of violent crime and mothers of victims, including one who lost her son to a shooting — expressed complicated feelings about balancing prevention efforts with justice. [The 19th] 

Connecticut schools are receiving more threats of shootings, part of a broader spike in such threats nationwide. Officials in the state say that, though the threats and subsequent school closures may be frightening, the increased number of reported threats may be a good sign: Since the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the state has tried to instill a “see something, say something” mentality. The uptick in reports may be a sign that the effort is paying off. [CT Mirror] 

Local election officials are increasingly subject to threats and harassment — and it’s leading to high turnover rates, particularly in battleground states. The hostility is disproportionately targeted at election officials serving communities of color. At the same time, election officials are also bracing for security threats at the polls themselves. [Bloomberg Businessweek/Capital B]

Data Point

16 percent — the proportion of local election officials who said they’ve been threatened because of their job, per a May 2024 survey. About 36 percent said they’ve been harassed or abused. [Bloomberg Businessweek]

Non Sequitur

Making Plans on the Group Chat Bingo: “Date chosen, but now, holy hell, you all have to agree where to go.” [McSweeney’s]

Sunny Sone
Sunny is The Trace’s senior editor for audience and engagement. Sunny previously worked as a copy editor at The Intercept and as digital editor for the Texas Observer, and has covered topics ranging from the Texas funeral industry to the life of visionary composer Pauline Oliveros. Sunny holds a degree in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin.