The coronavirus pandemic changed America in many ways we’re still trying to unravel: The intertwined economic, political, and social effects are still playing out, and difficult if not impossible to disentangle from the conditions that came before it. By comparison, the surge in gun violence that started in 2020, and its aftermath, are devastatingly easier to understand.
From 2020 to 2024, approximately 18,126 more people died than would have if gun violence had remained at its 2019 level, according to a new analysis from The Trace’s Olga Pierce. Though shootings increased nationwide and across all races and ethnicities, the areas hit hardest by the surge were majority-Black and brown neighborhoods in big cities, places that have faced historic and systemic disinvestment. As The Trace’s Mensah M. Dean reported in December, this inequity, often driven by racism, creates the conditions for cycles of violence. In other words, the burden of the COVID surge largely landed on areas that were already struggling with a disproportionate share of shootings and deaths.
When violence surges, it’s difficult to interrupt — and for the tens of thousands of people whose lives were touched by the shootings of the past few years, the grief and shock of the spike will be felt for years to come. But there’s some hope to be found in 2024’s decline in gun violence, James Densley, a criminal justice professor at Metropolitan State University in Minnesota and co-founder of The Violence Prevention Project, told Pierce. Surprisingly simple things, like schools and community organizations, can provide critical, potentially life-changing support when other resources fade. Today, Densley said, “the threadbare safety net that was just about doing its job four to five years ago is just about doing its job now.”
From The Trace
How Many People Were Killed by the Pandemic Surge in Shootings?: In a new analysis, The Trace figured out the number of people who might have lived if gun violence had remained at its 2019 level.
ATF Urges Police to Reconsider Reselling Used Guns: The agency’s recommendation comes less than a year after an investigation by The Trace found that thousands of used police guns were involved in crimes.
Can a Health Care Approach Abate the Maternal Homicide Crisis?: Experts and physicians in maternal health explain the evolving crisis behind pregnancy-related homicides, and why it’s preventable.
How We Analyzed the Toll of the Pandemic Shooting Surge: These are the methods we used to determine how many people might have lived if gun violence didn’t spike during the COVID-19 pandemic.
What We’re Reading
The queer people who are buying guns to prepare for Trump’s America: “The people I’ve been seeing on the left and the gay people who are out purchasing guns for the first time, it’s all about self-defense and fear. We’re not looking to arm up and storm the Capitol. We just don’t want to be put in concentration camps.” [The Philadelphia Inquirer]
The Militia and the Mole: After the January 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, a wilderness survival trainer believed that democracy was under threat. So he infiltrated two of the most prominent right-wing militias in the country, spending years undercover and eventually being promoted to lead one’s operations in Utah. He didn’t tell the FBI. [ProPublica]
Facebook and Instagram Ads Push Gun Silencers Disguised as Car Parts: For years, thousands of ads on the Meta-owned social media networks have promoted “fuel filters” using videos that demonstrate how they can be turned into gun silencers, which are heavily regulated under federal law. The devices sell for as little as $50. [Wired]
Violent Extremism Lingers Online With US Flagging Less Content: Current and former U.S. officials and researchers say that the FBI and Department of Homeland Security have scaled back efforts to disrupt violent extremists’ online activities over the past two years. The agencies are reportedly sharing less threat-related information with social media companies and, per the researchers, have largely stopped flagging networks of white supremacist accounts that try to recruit or radicalize new followers. [Bloomberg News]
What Really Happened With the First Officer Suicide After Jan. 6: Capitol Police Officer Howie Liebengood used his service weapon to take his own life days after he responded to the 2021 riot, becoming the first of four officers to die by suicide after responding to the attack. In the political chaos that followed January 6, the details of his life and death were obscured. [Politico] If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, help is available 24 hours a day. Find resources for support in our guide.
In Memoriam
Johvan Taylor, 13, was a truly distinctive kid, loved ones said: Affectionately known as “Woodah,” Johvan was playful and bold, respectful and outspoken; he got good grades at school, and was happy by nature. Johvan was shot and killed last weekend in Florida City, Florida, while he was eating with a group of friends on his father’s porch; the drive-by shooting also wounded another child. Johvan, whose uncle is a wide receiver for the Detroit Lions, loved football, and played on a local Little League team. He also loved dancing, dirt bikes, and spending time with his little brother. The 5-year-old is hurting, his aunt said, and “keeps saying, ‘Woodah, Woodah.’” “You know everybody says, my child is a good child,” said a family friend. “But no, that one was a good child.”
Spotlight on Solutions
On July 3, 2023, Karina González and her 15-year-old daughter were fatally shot in their Chicago home, allegedly by González’s husband. Despite an order of protection that González had submitted less than two weeks earlier, her husband’s firearm was never seized. In the wake of the killing, Illinois lawmakers proposed legislation in her name to fix the ambiguity in executing orders of protection and require law enforcement to remove the alleged abuser’s firearms, ammunition, or gun parts within 96 hours.
Despite being introduced by the start of 2024, Karina’s Bill wasn’t voted on during the state’s spring legislative session. But this week, just before the end of the General Assembly’s lame-duck session, lawmakers in the state House and Senate quickly passed the bill, sending it to Governor JB Pritzker’s desk. The action came after the Supreme Court last summer upheld a federal law that prohibits domestic abusers from possessing guns while under a restraining order, and, per the Chicago Sun-Times, after a report found that domestic violence deaths in Illinois more than doubled in 2023 compared to 2022.
“This law will save lives,” state Senator Celina Villanueva, a sponsor of the bill, said in a statement. “Karina’s Law closes a dangerous loophole and sends a clear message: Illinois prioritizes the safety and dignity of survivors.”
Pull Quote
“The circumstance is the homicide, but the lifelong work is how do you try to recover and heal from that traumatic event — and that is a forever thing.”
— Michelle Kerr-Spry, a gun violence survivor and a community activist with Mothers in Charge, a violence prevention and intervention organization in Philadelphia, on the grief of losing someone to a shooting, to The Trace
