Featured Story
Qualified immunity, the legal doctrine that’s frequently used to shield police accused of misconduct from civil lawsuits, is receiving renewed attention because of the killing of Sonya Massey in Illinois — and former President Donald Trump’s campaign pledge to give officers “immunity from prosecution.” Two legal experts explain how the idea of qualified immunity came into being, the real-world effects of the doctrine, and where the current effort to eliminate it stands. [Capital B]
From The Trace
Gun deaths fell in the U.S. again in 2023, marking the second consecutive year of declining gun deaths since their peak in 2021, according to the CDC. The provisional data published last month shows that 46,728 people lost their lives in shootings last year, a 3 percent decrease from 2022, when 48,204 people died from gunshot wounds.
The drop was not evenly distributed, however. Gun deaths among children rose last year, and gun suicides hit a record high. In their latest story, The Trace’s Chip Brownlee and Jennifer Mascia break down the CDC data, visualizing and contextualizing the numbers.
What to Know Today
March 2020 marked not only the beginning of coronavirus pandemic restrictions in the U.S., but also a groundswell of firearm sales. Though that spike has calmed over the past few years, it marked a turning point in America’s relationship with firearms — one that could be very difficult to come back from. [Vox]
André Fortson — the 16-year-old brother of senior airman Roger Fortson, who was shot and killed by a sheriff’s deputy inside his home in Florida in May — was killed in a shooting in the Atlanta area last week. André, who was getting ready to start high school, had been helping his little sister and mother, Meka Fortson, cope with his brother’s death. “The world goes on like this is the norm,” said Meka, who is now grieving two children lost to gun violence in as many months. “This is not normal.” [The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]
Many rappers in the U.S. have been threatened by gun violence, or lost their lives to shootings. For the bodyguards charged with protecting these artists, the job takes a physical and mental toll that often goes underappreciated. [The Guardian]
Two decades ago, a neo-Nazi became an FBI informant after he was sent to prison for trying to buy a pistol from an undercover agent. The informant, Joshua Caleb Sutter, has since earned at least $140,000 infiltrating far-right groups — while spreading virulent ideologies that have inspired some of the internet’s most violent groups. It’s not clear what, if anything, the FBI is doing about Sutter’s conduct. [WIRED]
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How Many Guns Are Circulating in the U.S.?
We attempt to pin down a central — yet elusive — data point in the conversation around gun violence. (Updated July 2024)
