Top Story
President Joe Biden, in a call for reform at a firearm safety summit last week, questioned if there is a difference between the “post-traumatic stress that a soldier meets in the hills of Afghanistan” and the trauma a “fourth-grade kid meets in a classroom when they have to duck and cover.” He went further: “If this Congress refuses to act,” Biden said, “we need a new Congress.” [The New York Times]
From Our Team
Gun violence and alcohol use are leading causes of injury and death in the U.S. They’re big enough problems on their own — but when they’re combined, according to Johns Hopkins researcher Silvia Villarreal, they’re particularly deadly.
Studies show that drinking is a driver, and predictor, of gun violence. At least 30 mass shooters since 1966 have had problems with alcohol misuse, per The Violence Project, which uses a narrow definition of “mass shooting.” Alcohol is implicated in everyday shootings, too: An estimated one in three gun homicide perpetrators drank heavily before killing their victims, according to a recent report led by Villarreal, as did a quarter of gun suicide victims. But despite the evidence, regulation around the intersection of guns and alcohol is a patchwork that depends on inconsistent definitions of alcohol abuse. The Trace’s Jennifer Mascia and Fairriona Magee have the story. Read more →
On a recent night in Brooklyn, The Trace’s Chip Brownlee joined a group of young participants in a violence prevention program for a “stop the bleed” training. They learned how to provide potentially lifesaving care if they encounter a shooting victim, and practiced dressing wounds, performing CPR, and applying tourniquets.
It might not be uplifting to think about teenagers treating gunshot wounds. But basic first-aid techniques, even when employed by young people with minimal training, could help save lives. “Knowledge is power,” the instructor told Brownlee, for the latest edition of The Trajectory. “The more individuals that know a skill that could impact someone’s life, that’s the main thing.” Read more →
What to Know Today
The Supreme Court is scheduled to privately discuss tomorrow whether to take up an appeal, requested by the Biden administration, of the 5th Circuit decision that overturned a federal ban on gun possession by people subject to domestic violence restraining orders. It could be the first real test of the scope of last year’s landmark Bruen decision. [NBC]
President Joe Biden, in a call for reform at a firearm safety summit last week, questioned if there is a difference between the “post-traumatic stress that a soldier meets in the hills of Afghanistan” and the trauma a “fourth-grade kid meets in a classroom when they have to duck and cover.” He went further: “If this Congress refuses to act,” Biden said, “we need a new Congress.” [The New York Times]
Tennessee gun safety advocates hope the new push for firearm reform in the state, spurred by the Covenant School mass shooting, will help close a loophole they say allows domestic abusers to retain access to their weapons: Though Tennessee requires people subject to protective orders to temporarily surrender their guns, the firearms can be transferred to a “third party,” including friends and family members, instead of law enforcement. [The Tennessean]
More than a million American employees are violently attacked in the workplace each year, but there are no state or federal standards specifically requiring business owners to protect their staffers from such on-the-job violence. In California, that might change — depending on the outcome of a legislative dispute between labor and industry. [Capital & Main]
After approving a law allowing gun owners to carry concealed weapons without a permit, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis vetoed a measure that would have provided $5 million in funding to groups working to end community gun violence. The governor has claimed that Florida’s crime rate is at a 50-year low — but that assertion relies on data from just half the state’s police agencies. [Tampa Bay Times/The Marshall Project]
A group of naturalized citizens in Maryland had lobbied Congress, participated in protests, and raised money to help their home country of Cameroon, which has been mired in a bloody civil war since 2017. Feeling they had exhausted all other options, they began amassing an arsenal to arm their side of the conflict — focusing not on the law, but on saving lives back home. [The Baltimore Banner]
A Philadelphia high school student was banned from attending prom and graduation after he was shot 10 times. The school’s chief administrator says she worried his shooters could return and endanger the campus. The student feels like he’s been blamed for what happened to him. [The Philadelphia Inquirer]
Archive
When Protective Orders Don’t Protect: Rosemarie Reilly knew her ex might hurt her. But when she sought a restraining order, a judge allowed him to keep his guns. (January 2021)
