Top Story
The geography of gunmaking is changing: Over the past 20 years, manufacturers have moved their operations to states with less restrictive firearm regulations. Now, Oklahoma officials are hoping to capitalize on the trend. [The Oklahoman]
From Our Team
Gun buyback programs — in which a government, law enforcement agency, or community group compensates people who turn over firearms — are easy to run and cost little. They’re popular among policing agencies and the broader public, and officials tout buybacks as a quick way to get guns off the streets. But these programs rarely garner national attention, nor are they frequently proposed by lawmakers as a scalable solution to America’s gun violence crisis.
That’s why our readers routinely send in questions about the efficacy of gun buybacks. In the latest Ask The Trace, we provide some answers. Read more from The Trace →
What to Know Today
Tennessee Republicans quickly ended the state’s legislative session without taking action on measures to restrict gun access. Hours later, Governor Bill Lee — whose administration has been urging the General Assembly to pass an “order of protection” law — said he would call a special session to address firearm reform. [Chalkbeat Tennessee/The New York Times]
Students at Philadelphia’s Gloria Casarez Elementary, in the Kensington neighborhood, are familiar with gun violence: Many have lost loved ones to shootings, or sheltered from gunfire at home or at school. Administrators are speaking out — and they’re teaching kids to talk about the violence, too. [NPR]
$1.4 million in proceeds from the estate of the Route 91 Harvest Festival mass shooter will be evenly divided between loved ones of the people he killed in 2017, an attorney for the victims said. Most of his guns were destroyed, barring a few retained by the FBI. The shooting is the deadliest in modern U.S. history. [CNN]
Three Democrats on the Colorado House Judiciary Committee joined Republicans to kill a bill banning assault weapons in the state. The hearing for the legislation went past midnight and included hours of heated public testimony. [The Denver Post]
An environmental activist who was shot and killed by law enforcement while protesting “Cop City,” a proposed police training facility near Atlanta, sustained at least 57 bullet wounds, according to an autopsy by the DeKalb County medical examiner. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation claims there is no body camera footage of the shooting. [CBS]
Hawaii police vowed to increase enforcement of illegal gambling laws, following one of the most serious shootings in state history that apparently resulted from an argument at the end of a cockfight. [Associated Press]
Archive
Ryan Busse Was a Rising Star in the Gun Industry. Then He Had a Change of Heart: The former executive started to question some of the political positions he’d accepted all his life — and to feel complicit in the country’s tragedies. (October 2021)
