Featured Story
Vice President Kamala Harris announced the establishment of the federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Resource Center, a new office funded by a Justice Department grant and run by the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions to help states implement laws to remove guns from people who could be dangerous. [The Guardian]
Commentary
Over the past few weeks, New Yorkers have seen jarring glimpses of violence in the subway system. First, Governor Kathy Hochul brought National Guard soldiers into stations across the city in response to rising subway crime and MTA-worker protests about on-the-job safety. Then, on March 14, riders hid under seats to avoid a shootout.
“Right now we might be viewing the future of the subway system,” writes Jonathan M. Metzl, author of a new book on American gun crime, “as it is remade by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Bruen decision.” Violence on the New York City subway, real and imagined, was invoked by pro-gun Supreme Court justices in their Bruen ruling. Now, Metzl argues, the decision’s effects may be playing out.
What to Know Today
More than 100 people were killed in a mass shooting at a concert in Moscow on Friday, the deadliest act of terrorism in Russia’s capital region in more than a decade. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack. [The New York Times]
BioFire, a smart gun producer, says it’s shipping its first batch of handguns equipped with fingerprint and facial-recognition technology by the end of the month. The company’s firearm is meant to be quickly accessible, but unable to be used by anyone unauthorized, particularly children. Will it work? [NBC]
A new program in Fort Worth, Texas — where police shot and killed Atatiana Jefferson in her home in 2019 — trains locals to act as community-police mediators; in their role, mediators act as neutral, observing third parties for residents and officers in conflict. One of the main goals of the program is to restore community members’ trust in police. [Fort Worth Report]
An Arkansas airport executive who was killed in a shootout with federal agents last week was being investigated over gun sales, search warrant records show. No charges had been filed against him. [NBC]
Democratic lawmakers in Colorado are advancing a slate of gun safety bills — including a ban on assault-style weapons, a state excise tax on guns and ammunition, and mandatory secure firearm storage — that collectively represent some of the most significant new restrictions since the 2013 mass shooting at an Aurora movie theater. More than one-fifth of the Legislature is sponsoring at least one firearms measure. [Axios]
Archive
Research Indicates That Red Flag Laws Work — But Only If People Know About Them: The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act incentivized states to implement extreme risk protection orders, and provide information about them to the public. A study focuses on what messages are likely to work best. (August 2023)
