The idea that “All politics is local” — famously associated with the late Tip O’Neill, a Democrat who served as speaker of the House uninterrupted from 1977 to 1987 — has gotten a lot of flak in the 21st century. Some of it is warranted: The internet, for example, made it easier for a local issue to transcend into a national one, and vice versa. It’s possible that Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election, which will likely result in the dismantling of the Biden administration’s gun violence prevention efforts and the FBI’s ability to police racist violence, is proof that O’Neill’s truism isn’t exactly true.

But lives are lived, and lost, on the local level — in schools and parks, grocery stores and nightclubs, living rooms and highways, city blocks and Main Streets across the United States — and change is more concretely made on the state and local levels. However rotten you may view your political opponent, however Trump tries to test the boundaries of democracy, however troubling the future of gun violence prevention may seem, something was made clear in less-noticed elections: Many Americans, if not most, still care about their neighbors, and don’t want them to get killed. That, today, is not a small thing.

There were a few issues where this was evident, including in the gun safety and violence prevention sphere. Memphis, Tennessee, overcame threats from GOP state lawmakers and put three (largely symbolic) gun restrictions on the ballot, which voters overwhelmingly approved. Colorado voters passed a ballot measure that will provide millions of critical dollars to organizations supporting victims of domestic and sexual violence through the creation of a new tax on firearms and ammunition. Residents of Tulsa, Oklahoma, elected Monroe Nichols, a state representative who made violence prevention a key part of his public safety platform, as their mayor; he will also be the first Black person to lead the city. Back in the primaries, U.S. Representative Tony Gonzales — a Republican who has voted in favor of gun restrictions and whose district covers Uvalde, Texas — fended off a challenge from a far-right gun influencer; he won reelection. Many other lawmakers who believe in violence prevention will return to their posts, too.

There is reason to be troubled. A second Trump administration will reshape U.S. gun policy. Federal funding for gun violence prevention and research is under severe threat. There’s little doubt that efforts to reduce gun violence will be much more challenging for at least the next four years, and there’s no way to know what the United States will look like after January 20. 

But make no mistake: People who care about reducing gun violence will still work on solutions. There will still be people in schools and parks, grocery stores and nightclubs, living rooms and highways, city blocks and Main Streets, who will continue to care about their neighbors, who will try to reduce the possibility of losing a loved one to a bullet, or help relieve the suffering of someone who has. And those people are probably closer than you think.

From The Trace

What to Know This Week  

Donald Trump’s presidential victory could prompt the Justice Department to change or reverse its positions in lawsuits across the legal system. The change in power could affect the outcome of Garland v. VanDerStok, a Supreme Court case over the Biden administration’s effective ban on ghost guns. [Roll Call] 

Saginaw, Michigan, has at times had the highest crime rate of any city in the state during recent years; more than 180 people have been killed there over the past decade, most with guns, and hundreds have been wounded by firearms. Before Election Day, a group of bereaved mothers rallied at a City Council meeting to demand change. Some of the moms saw the fate of their city resting in the hands of the next president, while others believed it lay within the outcomes of local races. [The Guardian] 

A federal appeals court ruled that a Colorado law requiring people to be 21 or older to purchase any firearm can go into effect. The decision doesn’t end the legal battle, but instead means it can be enforced while the challenge plays out. [The Colorado Sun] 

A new study found that unintentional gun injuries among kids age 12 to 17 were more likely to be fatal when a peer was the shooter and when the shooting occurred at a residence. Researchers said the results stress the importance of safely storing firearms and reducing young people’s access to guns. [Injury Epidemiology] 

In Memoriam 

Lamont Johnson, 51, was just a good guy, his aunt told the Chicago Sun-Times — he was generous, and a true family man. Johnson was one of two people shot and killed at Chicago’s Navy Pier, a popular tourist attraction, on Tuesday; the other person was identified as Peter Jennings, 47. Johnson leaves behind four adult children, three daughters and a son, his aunt said, to whom he was dedicated: One of his daughters had been dealing with health issues, and he spent the entire day last Friday in the hospital with her. It was the same hospital where he would be pronounced dead, days later. “He was a caring person, a giving person. When he walked into a room, he always had a smile on his face,” his aunt said. “Come to think of it, I never saw him angry.”

We Recommend

The Crash of the Hammer: “How concerned citizens ran a neo-Nazi out of rural Maine.” [The Atavist] 

Pull Quote

“When we’re funded on behalf of the federal government, we’re doing work on behalf of the people within the United States. That’s our service to the population, coming up with public health solutions.”

— Dr. Tanya Zakrison, a trauma surgeon in Chicago, on her gun violence prevention work, to The Trace

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.