What To Know Today
Students in Uvalde returned to school. Nervous parents were greeted on Tuesday by Texas state troopers and eight-foot-high fencing around the perimeter of Uvalde Elementary School, which absorbed many students from the now-shuttered Robb Elementary. Schools throughout the state instructed students to wear white and maroon to remember the 19 students and two teachers killed in a shooting at the school in May. Hundreds of cameras were installed throughout Uvalde district schools, and three dozen Texas Department of Public Safety officers will be stationed on campuses this year. Some parents aren’t sufficiently comforted by the new security measures, opting instead for homeschooling, online instruction, or private school. “Who cares if there are cops?” third-grader Zayon Martinez told The Washington Post. “They don’t do anything.”
Eleven people were shot outside a Cleveland-area bar. One person was killed in the early Monday shooting outside Just Us Lounge & Deli in East Cleveland. The incident was one of at least 14 mass shootings over Labor Day weekend, according to the Gun Violence Archive. At least 18,724 people were shot in the U.S. between Memorial Day and Labor Day: 6,102 people were killed and 12,622 people were injured over the summer, Gun Violence Archive reported.
New York officials divided on concealed carry standards update. Governor Kathy Hochul has said that state residents who applied for a permit between the Supreme Court ruling striking down the state’s “proper cause” requirement in June and the implementation of new vetting and training requirements in September will need to adhere to new rules. Applicants must complete 18 hours of training and submit three years of social media history, per the updated regulations. But an NYPD official told the City Council last week that city residents who applied during that two-month gap could subvert the new requirements. One council member called the discrepancy “a source of concern.”
“Stand your ground” laws are letting people get away with murder, analysis finds. Reveal reviewed more than 150 cases in which the perpetrator invoked the self-defense statute and found that it’s been successfully applied in shootings in which the gunman is the aggressor, including road rage shootings, child custody disputes, and interpersonal disputes. But the investigation also found that prosecutors have rejected stand your ground claims from people of color and women experiencing domestic violence, suggesting an unequal application of the law.
September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. The U.S. has the highest rate of gun suicide in the world, and suicides account for more than half of gun deaths each year. Here’s our guide to finding help if you’re experiencing suicidal thoughts or depression. If you need immediate help, you can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Data Points
233 — the number of people in the U.S. killed in shootings over Labor Day weekend. Another 520 people were shot but survived. [Gun Violence Archive]
