Alex Yablon

Alex Yablon was a reporter and a founding staffer at The Trace.

Gun Owners Flood Justice Department With Pleas to Leave Bump Stocks Unregulated

Gun Policy

Gun Owners Flood Justice Department With Pleas to Leave Bump Stocks Unregulated

The National Rifle Association may have gotten its way when the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives announced it would revisit its decision not to regulate bump stocks. By putting the onus on the bureau, the NRA helped…

Alex Yablon
Appellate Court Panel Upholds Federal Gun Bans for Domestic Abusers

Gun Policy

Appellate Court Panel Upholds Federal Gun Bans for Domestic Abusers

The federal law banning gun sales to people convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence does not violate the Second Amendment, an appellate court panel ruled on Thursday. In a 2-1 decision, judges on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld…

Alex Yablon
Bullets-Per-Body Rise in Chicago as High-Capacity Handguns Gain Criminal Following

Community Violence

Bullets-Per-Body Rise in Chicago as High-Capacity Handguns Gain Criminal Following

A new Chicago Sun-Times investigation into the city’s deaths by gun has a stunning statistic at its heart: not only did the city’s 2016 murder count rise to its highest level in 19 years, but fatal gunshot victims…

Alex Yablon
Despite Attorney General’s Claims, Violent Crime Is Tracking Downward in 2017

Data

Despite Attorney General’s Claims, Violent Crime Is Tracking Downward in 2017

Last week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions warned that “violent crime is up in many places in the country,” especially in Baltimore, where he delivered his speech. Sessions linked the surge to illegal immigration and transnational gangs, like MS-13. But…

Alex Yablon
More Officials Are Stepping Up Efforts to Ensure Domestic Abusers Relinquish Their Guns

Domestic Violence

More Officials Are Stepping Up Efforts to Ensure Domestic Abusers Relinquish Their Guns

Politicians and law enforcement officials across the country are beginning to experiment with new approaches to reducing domestic violence and gun deaths by forcing abusers who aren’t allowed to own guns to actually surrender weapons still in their possession. Under…

Alex Yablon
Cities Continue to Contend With Mix of Guns and Volatile Protests

Alex Yablon

Cities Continue to Contend With Mix of Guns and Volatile Protests

A protest in Austin, Texas, this weekend became a Charlottesville-in-miniature as anti-immigrant activists squared off with anti-racist factions over the city’s sanctuary policy. Police officers were trying to escort the opposing groups marching toward the state capitol when a fight…

Alex Yablon
The NRA Just Spent $54,000 to Help Roy Moore’s Senate Bid

National Rifle Association

The NRA Just Spent $54,000 to Help Roy Moore’s Senate Bid

Add the National Rifle Association to the groups that are putting money into the effort to elect the Alabama Republican Roy Moore to the United States Senate. In the four weeks since allegations first surfaced that Moore had sexually…

Alex Yablon
The NRA Says Gun Permits Should Be Like Driver’s Licenses. Here’s Where the Comparison Falls Apart.

Concealed Carry

The NRA Says Gun Permits Should Be Like Driver’s Licenses. Here’s Where the Comparison Falls Apart.

The House of Representatives voted Wednesday to pass the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017, which would require all 50 states to recognize one another’s permits to carry concealed firearms, regardless of the gulfs that can exist between licensing standards.

Alex Yablon
Concealed-Carry Reciprocity Moves Forward

Concealed Carry

Concealed-Carry Reciprocity Moves Forward

After two hours of debate, the House of Representatives today approved legislation that would force all states to recognize one another’s permits to carry concealed firearms. For the National Rifle Association, the passage of the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017,…

Alex Yablon
Concealed-Carry Reciprocity Could Face Major Constitutional Challenges

Concealed Carry

Concealed-Carry Reciprocity Could Face Major Constitutional Challenges

This week, the House of Representatives is expected to vote on the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017, the current incarnation of a proposal that has stood as the National Rifle Association’s top federal legislative priority for a…

Alex Yablon
How Concealed Carry Reciprocity Would Override Laws That Ban One Congressman From Owning a Gun in 7 States

Concealed Carry

How Concealed Carry Reciprocity Would Override Laws That Ban One Congressman From Owning a Gun in 7 States

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee advanced the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act through the markup process this week. It may soon get a vote on the House floor. The bill would allow someone who is permitted to carry a…

Alex Yablon
The Lessons of the Kate Steinle Case Should Be About the Risks of Stolen Guns, Not Immigration

Missing Pieces

The Lessons of the Kate Steinle Case Should Be About the Risks of Stolen Guns, Not Immigration

President Donald Trump vented outrage on Friday morning after a jury in San Francisco acquitted Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, an undocumented immigrant, of first-degree murder in the 2015 killing of Kate Steinle. Steinle died after she was shot while…

Alex Yablon
White Men With Financial Worries More Likely to Be Attached to Their Guns, Study Finds

Data

White Men With Financial Worries More Likely to Be Attached to Their Guns, Study Finds

White men who have lost financial stability — or think that they soon will — find moral and emotional solace in their firearms, more so than nonwhite gun owners or those on sound economic footing, according to a new study…

Alex Yablon
Senators Announce Bipartisan Bill to Improve Reporting to Federal Gun Background Check System

Background Checks

Senators Announce Bipartisan Bill to Improve Reporting to Federal Gun Background Check System

A bipartisan group of senators unveiled a bill on Thursday morning that would reward states for improving their reporting of criminal records and domestic violence data to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s gun background check system, and punish those that…

Alex Yablon
Active Shooting

For Six Minutes, Rancho Tehama Gunman Tried to Shoot His Way Into Elementary School

For six minutes on Tuesday morning at Rancho Tehama Elementary School in Tehama County, California, everything went as teachers had rehearsed. A man had crashed a stolen car through the school’s front gate. He was stalking the grounds, armed with…

Alex Yablon

Gun violence journalism that informs and empowers.

Alex Yablon

Gun Owners Flood Justice Department With Pleas to Leave Bump Stocks Unregulated

Appellate Court Panel Upholds Federal Gun Bans for Domestic Abusers

Bullets-Per-Body Rise in Chicago as High-Capacity Handguns Gain Criminal Following

Despite Attorney General’s Claims, Violent Crime Is Tracking Downward in 2017

More Officials Are Stepping Up Efforts to Ensure Domestic Abusers Relinquish Their Guns

Cities Continue to Contend With Mix of Guns and Volatile Protests

The NRA Just Spent $54,000 to Help Roy Moore’s Senate Bid

The NRA Says Gun Permits Should Be Like Driver’s Licenses. Here’s Where the Comparison Falls Apart.

Concealed-Carry Reciprocity Moves Forward

Concealed-Carry Reciprocity Could Face Major Constitutional Challenges

How Concealed Carry Reciprocity Would Override Laws That Ban One Congressman From Owning a Gun in 7 States

The Lessons of the Kate Steinle Case Should Be About the Risks of Stolen Guns, Not Immigration

White Men With Financial Worries More Likely to Be Attached to Their Guns, Study Finds

Senators Announce Bipartisan Bill to Improve Reporting to Federal Gun Background Check System

For Six Minutes, Rancho Tehama Gunman Tried to Shoot His Way Into Elementary School