Good morning, Bulletin readers. In today’s briefing: A new analysis from The Trace’s Brian Freskos zeroes in on the role of stolen weapons in Chicago’s gun violence crisis. A discovery by researchers at the University at Buffalo has the potential to help law enforcement trace 3D-printed guns. And polls show voters backing an aggressive gun safety ballot initiative in Washington state.
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WHAT TO KNOW TODAY
NEW from THE TRACE: Our analysis links stolen guns to thousands of crimes in Chicago. Records collected by The Trace’s Brian Freskos and NBC 5 Chicago show that between 2012 and 2016, police in Chicago picked up more than 2,400 stolen guns, 71 percent of which came from outside city limits, some as far away as Texas and Utah. Many of them were used in crimes, including homicide. “Many of the kids I’ve talked to, it’s easier for them to get a gun than it is to get a piece of fresh fruit,” said Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin. His observation matches the findings of a pioneering survey of at-risk Chicago youth, four in five of whom named stolen guns as a popular source of firearms for their peers. Illinois has a law requiring gun owners to notify police when a gun goes missing. Our reporting found it’s rarely enforced.
An aggressive ballot initiative in Washington State is up by 25 points, according to a new statewide Crosscut/Elway Poll. Of the 405 voters polled, 59 percent said they would vote in favor of the initiative, whose provisions include stricter regulation of semiautomatic weapons. Thirty-four percent of those polled said they opposed the initiative and 7 percent were undecided.
For the first time in 25 years, New York City went a weekend without shootings. The New York Police Department says it was the first Friday-through-Sunday period to go without a gun homicide or serious assault since at least 1993. The streak was broken on Monday afternoon, when a 27-year-old man was wounded in a shooting in the Bronx.
The National Rifle Association is stumping hard for Senate candidate Marsha Blackburn in Tennessee. The Republican, who holds an “A” rating from the group, pledged to protect gun rights during a campaign rally on Monday. According to our NRA Campaign Spending Tracker, the NRA has spent $856,000, or 15 percent of its total spending in the 2018 midterms, on efforts to elect Blackburn.
A Colorado gun club will no longer require its members to join the NRA. The Glenwood Springs Gun Club announced that it is dropping its NRA membership requirement. The president of the club said the requirement was tied to the NRA insurance used by the group, but that they will change it after a City Council member expressed concern.
Cops with military experience are more likely to shoot their weapons on duty, a new study from the University of Texas School of Public Health in Dallas suggests. The study examined U.S. Armed Forces records of officers in the Dallas Police Department over 10 years and found that military veterans were more prone to firing their weapons. The researchers called for future studies on the effects of trauma on veteran police officers.
A Superior Court judge in Delaware ruled a ban on guns in state parks unconstitutional. Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Clark ruled Thursday that regulations that prohibit guns in certain areas of state parks violate federal and state constitutions. The lawsuit was brought by a shooting sports group challenging state regulations that bar guns from areas like zoos, group camping grounds, and swimming pools.
A retired Marine was killed by a teenager’s stray bullet. Police say a 17-year-old boy was shooting at a South Carolina road sign when the bullet made its way across a wooded area and into the home of 48-year-old Joe D. Black Jr., killing him. The boy turned himself in to police and is facing manslaughter charges.
A 55-year-old woman fatally shot her four children and then herself. The shooting took place at a South Carolina home on Monday evening, according to police. The victims were all teenagers. “The first responders… see gruesome scenes regularly, but this is not one that you see every day,” the county sheriff said at a news conference.
ONE LAST THING
Researchers say they’ve discovered a way to trace downloadable guns. A study from the University at Buffalo describes what’s believed to be the first method for matching 3D-printed objects to the unique “fingerprints” that their printers leave behind. The breakthrough has the potential to help law enforcement track the origins of 3D-printed guns, which have raised public safety alarms since the Trump administration withdrew federal restrictions on the online distribution of their blueprints this summer.
