Featured Story

Referencing the Supreme Court’s Heller and Bruen rulings, U.S. District Judge Peter Sheridan ruled that New Jersey’s ban on the Colt AR-15 is unconstitutional. “Where the Supreme Court has set forth the law of our Nation, as a lower court, I am bound to follow it,” Sheridan wrote in his decision, in which he also noted “the reckless inaction of our governmental leaders to address the mass shooting tragedy afflicting our Nation.” The ruling concerned only the right to possess the Colt AR-15, and not other AR-style weapons. [NorthJersey.com]

Law Enforcement

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is one of the largest law enforcement bodies in the country. With more than 12,000 agents, it’s bigger than any local police department other than New York City’s. Yet there are fewer watchdogs for ICE than for smaller agencies, like the Los Angeles Police Department, and oversight of misconduct is fragmented. When and how ICE agents use deadly force has long been shrouded in secrecy.

In an investigation for The Trace, Business Insider, and Type Investigations, reporter Lila Hassan reveals that hidden history, providing the first comprehensive look at ICE shootings across the country. Hassan uncovered evidence of nearly 60 shootings from 2015 to 2021, 23 of which were deadly. She also found that several incidents went unexamined, and others appear to have violated the agency’s own policies. In her piece, Hassan breaks down the data on these shootings and examines why ICE agents are so rarely held accountable for use of deadly force.

Philadelphia

Last March, Philadelphia’s District Attorney Larry Krasner, Sheriff Rochelle Bilal, and the Police Department convened a news conference to announce a new effort to catch homicide fugitives with help from Philadelphians. Since then, they’ve held six more news conferences to highlight the names, faces, and crimes allegedly committed by 47 fugitives, all but four of whom are wanted for shootings.

More than a year after the launch, law enforcement officials told The Trace’s Mensah M. Dean that they’re not sure exactly how many tips they’ve gotten from the public, nor how many of the 47 publicized fugitives have been captured. For his latest story, Dean did the math.

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What to Know Today

For people aged 10 to 24 who died by suicide between 2010 and 2021, 40 percent had a prior mental health diagnosis, according to new research. The likelihood of a previous diagnosis dropped to about 33 percent if the method of suicide was a firearm. For this age group, a gun was used nearly half the time. [CNN]

In the year since Pamela A. Smith became Washington, D.C.’s top cop, she’s taken steps to make structural changes to the Metro Police. But Smith, a self-described “pistol-packin’ preacher” and veteran of the U.S. Park Police, is still finding her footing: Though gun violence in the district is down compared to last year, residents continue to feel unsafe, and she hasn’t won over everyone in her department. How has her approach changed policing in the nation’s capital? [The Washington Post] 

The rapper Quavo showed his support for Vice President Kamala Harris’ and her run for the Oval Office during an Atlanta campaign rally this Tuesday. He spoke to the crowd about her commitment to tackling gun violence, an issue he’s been vocal about since Takeoff, his nephew and fellow Migos group member, was shot and killed in 2022. That same year, Quavo founded his own Atlanta-based gun violence prevention group, The Rocket Foundation. [Billboard/Variety]

More and more people like Shaundelle Brooks — Americans who’ve lost loved ones to gun violence — are entering politics. Her son, Akilah DaSilva, was killed in a 2018 mass shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, after which she became a gun violence prevention advocate. When she became fed up with what she saw as a lack of accountability from lawmakers, she decided to run for office. Today, she takes part in the Tennessee House of Representatives Democratic primary. [The Guardian]

Archive

Young, History-Making Candidates Ran on Gun Violence Prevention — and Won

Campaigns focusing on gun reform achieved victory in several races across the country. (November 2022)

Sunny Sone
Sunny is in charge of our newsletters, leading the growth of existing products and dreaming up new ones. They previously worked as a copy editor at The Intercept and as digital editor for the Texas Observer, and co-published a web-only magazine under the Brick House media cooperative. Sunny has covered topics ranging from the Texas funeral industry to the life of visionary composer Pauline Oliveros. They hold a degree in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin.
Agya K. Aning

Agya K. Aning is The Trace’s inaugural editing fellow. Previously, he covered environmental justice for Inside Climate News, and before that he lived in China and Taiwan, where he taught English as a second language and studied Mandarin. He grew up in southwest Virginia and earned a master’s degree in investigative journalism from Arizona State University. At one time, he was decent at the electric and bass guitars.