Top Story
Victims of the mass shooting at a queer nightclub in Colorado Springs plan to sue the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office for refusing to use the state’s extreme risk protection order law to ban the suspected shooter from buying or possessing guns before the attack. [The Denver Post]
Context: El Paso County is one of at least 37 Colorado counties that have declared themselves a “Second Amendment sanctuary” and openly defied the state’s gun laws.
The Trajectory
Most progressives view the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision as a major setback, if not a catastrophe, for the gun safety movement. But criminal justice reform advocates, who have long criticized more punitive firearm laws, say that the decision may have created an opportunity to reduce the number of Americans facing hefty prison sentences.
It has to do with marijuana, a couple of cases that may end up at the Supreme Court, and Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Reporter Chip Brownlee explains in the latest edition of his newsletter, The Trajectory.
If you haven’t signed up to receive The Trajectory yet, you’re missing out. Every other week, Brownlee sends a dispatch exploring the people, policies, and programs grappling with America’s gun violence crisis. Subscribe here →
What to Know Today
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Americans bought an estimated 1.36 million guns last month, according to an analysis of FBI data. That seasonally adjusted figure includes about 820,000 handguns and 540,000 long guns (rifles and shotguns). [The Trace]
Two people were killed and several others were wounded in a shooting following a high school graduation ceremony in Richmond, Virginia; one of the slain victims was reportedly a graduating student. Many at the scene were injured in a panic-driven stampede after the first shots were fired, according to a School Board member. [Richmond Times-Dispatch]
A New York Police Department unit tasked with preventing gun violence conducts illegal stops at high rates, a federal monitor reported. More than 97 percent of the people encountered in the stops reviewed by the monitor were Black or Hispanic. [Gothamist]
Vincent Schiraldi, head of Maryland’s juvenile services agency, is a veteran reformer who embraces evidence-informed approaches to rehabilitate young people involved in crimes. Now, he’s focused on helping kids with firearm charges break the cycle of violence that made them pick up a gun in the first place. [The Baltimore Banner]
The U.S. has a long history of regulating weapons that pose a threat to public safety, from the Tommy gun to the Bowie knife. Why should AR-style rifles be treated any differently? [TIME]
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper’s administration launched a safe gun storage campaign to counter a rise in firearm thefts and shootings; the program will distribute free gun locks and publish an interactive map showing where people can temporarily store firearms if they need to remove them from their homes for a short period of time. [Associated Press]
Is the murder rate falling? Crime analyst Jeff Asher says initial evidence looks promising. [The Atlantic]
Since his son Marsiah was killed in a mass shooting in Dadeville, Alabama, Martin Collins has been reckoning with America’s gun violence crisis and fighting to make sure Marsiah is remembered. “We say we’re a democracy and the world’s greatest nation, but we have the highest mass shooting rate of any civilized country,” said the former Marine. “We’re killing our children.” [The Guardian]
Data Point
17 percent — the proportion of gun violence victims in Baltimore who were high school-aged teens as of June 3, 2023. That proportion was 13 percent in 2022; 5.7 percent in 2021; and 7.14 percent in 2019, the last year before a nationwide spike in gun violence. [The Baltimore Banner]
