When Advance Peace was launched in Lansing, Michigan, in 2022, the violence interruption program was met with initial hesitation from police, The Trace’s Josiah Bates reported last week. The program has a grassroots approach: Its violence interrupters identify people who have been engaged in shootings, then enroll them in a fellowship that uses concentrated mentoring, daily communication, job opportunities, skills development, and monthly stipends to steer them toward a different path. Advance Peace’s method hinges on community trust — which is why it doesn’t share information with law enforcement.
Since Advance Peace came to town, Lansing has seen fatal shootings drop by 52 percent, and local police have gotten on board. But amid nationwide drops post-pandemic, it’s hard to definitively credit Advance Peace’s work to the decrease in local shootings. In another story, Bates details the roadblocks to conducting and sustaining research that untangles the effects of this kind of work in Lansing and other cities. Still, across the nation, organizations that use a community-centered approach to gun violence are seeing less bloodshed.
In Baltimore, the Group Violence Reduction Strategy is a similar initiative that offers resources and social services to more than 200 people who are most likely to be a perpetrator or victim of gun violence. So far, the early results look promising.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has adopted related strategies from nonprofit organizations like the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago. His approach includes addressing gun violence by providing place-based outreach efforts and job programs to those in impoverished areas most affected by shootings.
And The Trace’s Chip Brownlee recently reported on New York City’s Crisis Management System, an effort to coordinate, fund, and institutionalize violence intervention as a mainstay of the public safety ecosystem. An analysis by the city Comptroller’s Office found that areas with active CMS violence interruption programs experienced a decline in shootings.
As in Lansing, all of these programs and many others are centered on preventing violence by building trust and providing support to the people most at risk.
“We can talk to them,” one of Advance Peace Lansing’s 16-year-old fellows told Bates, referring to the program’s credible messengers. “They care about us, they’re there for us.” Read more about Advance Peace and its progress here.
From The Trace
Chicago Police Have Failed to Solve More Homicides. Could a New Law Help?: The department implemented a range of recommendations meant to improve its homicide investigations, but with no obvious effect.
Supreme Court Blocks Mexico’s Lawsuit Against U.S. Gunmakers: The decision marks a major setback for Mexico’s yearslong effort to stop the American gun industry from allegedly stoking cartel violence.
Musket vs. AR-15: Judges Are Throwing Out Gun Restrictions Because of Antiquated Laws From America’s Founding: A 2022 Supreme Court decision that gun laws should align with the nation’s “history and tradition” has sown confusion in courtrooms and weakened long-standing limits on firearms.
What to Know Today
Law enforcement in Los Angeles fired rubber bullets, tear gas, and flash bangs at crowds protesting federal immigration sweeps over the weekend. As The Trace’s Brian Freskos reported in 2020, experts say rubber bullets — a shorthand description of projectiles designed to deliver a knock-down blow without actually penetrating a person’s body — are infamous for inflicting serious injuries, and even cause death. [Associated Press/LAist]
Between 2017 and 2019, a new study found, U.S. schools that experienced shootings — defined as any discharge of a live firearm round on school grounds — had significantly lower rates of school health staff, like nurses or counselors, and a higher prevalence of police officers. “Gun violence can be viewed as a public health problem. These results suggest we are not delivering a public health solution in schools,” said lead author Keith Hullenaar. “It’s epidemiological thinking that, if you know where bad events happen, you invest more resources across the board in those locations — both in security and health.” [Preventive Medicine/University of Washington Medicine]
In California, hundreds of people who didn’t kill anyone have been convicted of homicides under an old standard that allowed prosecutors to charge accomplices with first-degree felony murder. State lawmakers raised the bar for these convictions in 2018, but the change didn’t face its first real test until last week, before the California Supreme Court. Judges found that a man who was at the scene of a fatal shooting did not show “a reckless indifference to human life,” a decision that reverses previous rulings and is likely to result in the man’s resentencing. [CalMatters]
As temperatures rise in Milwaukee, a corresponding uptick in shootings is keeping members of the local community and hospital-based violence intervention program 414LIFE busy. The organization’s efforts have shown promise, but like other violence intervention and prevention programs nationwide, federal funding cuts threaten the future of its programming. [Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service]
Transgender people face disproportionate rates of violence, including shootings, and in Chicago, the situation is acute: It’s the deadliest city in the country for Black trans women, according to Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office. In February, Johnson convened a task force to examine how the city responds to anti-trans violence and develop solutions to counter the crisis. Advocates hope the task force results in meaningful change, rather than a continuation of the symbolic efforts they’ve seen in the past. [Block Club Chicago]
Construction crews are expected to break ground as soon as July for the Wyoming State Shooting Complex, a state-funded venture that’s anticipated to draw gun enthusiasts from far and wide. Lawmakers and appointed citizens chose the location for its beauty — but it’s also a habitat for struggling animal species. Wildlife managers warned about the ecological issues at the site, but Wyoming approved it anyway. [WyoFile]
In Maine, Republicans and gun rights groups are ramping up tensions over a citizen-led ballot initiative for a red flag law. GOP lawmakers are trying to force a hearing on the referendum; Democrats say they don’t need to because the issue will be decided by voters. [Portland Press Herald]
In January 2023, a Massachusetts man fired his gun during a confrontation at a nail salon, striking and killing not his alleged assailant but a nearby salon worker. The state wants to charge him with second-degree murder, arguing that the man wasn’t “prudent” in defending himself. The case has made it to the state Supreme Court, where judges must answer a question: Is it still self-defense if you kill a bystander by mistake? [Courthouse News Service]
Data Point
264 — the number of shootings in New York City in 2025, as of the end of May. That’s the lowest number in decades. During the same period, there were 112 killings, the lowest on record. [Gothamist]
Non Sequitur
The Entire Earth Was Mysteriously Shaking Every 90 Seconds. Now, Scientists Know Why
For nine days in September 2023, the world was rocked by an “Unidentified Seismic Object.” [404 Media]
