The year 2024 was always going to be a significant one — the presidential election, four years after the country first reacted to the coronavirus pandemic, made sure of that. In addition to all the rest, this was a historic year on the gun violence beat. As The Trace’s editor in chief, Tali Woodward, writes in a new piece, we entered 2024 “with considerable progress against the scourge of gun violence.” But it’s become clear that “America’s battle with gun violence is far from over, and has likely entered a more difficult phase.”
Two high-profile shootings this month put that into sharp relief. On Monday, a 15-year-old girl opened fire inside Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin, killing 42-year-old teacher Erin M. West and 14-year-old student Rubi P. Vergara, sending two students into critical condition, and injuring several others before apparently shooting herself to death. Details about the attack are still emerging, but what’s come out about the shooter so far appears disturbing, and hauntingly familiar. The shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on December 4, meanwhile, and the reactive celebration (by some) of his suspected killer as a folk hero, illustrates a broad rage over the structures that make life in this country so precarious.
This was another violent year in America — but although shootings remained pervasive, and although we saw high-profile acts of political violence, the nation experienced fewer of each. States and communities took significant action on prevention, and the Biden administration continued trying to move the needle on firearm reform. As President-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed to unwind federal gun safety initiatives, inches closer to the White House, it’s worth keeping in mind: Not all progress is easily undone.
This is the last edition of The Weekly Briefing this year — the next time this newsletter will hit your inbox is January 3, 2025. Ahead of The Trace’s winter break, our staff put together some roundups of our favorite reporting of the year, from within our newsroom and without. These stories illuminate where we’ve been and where we might go next, as well as the resiliency of the people this crisis touches most closely. I’ll leave you with a few of my own favorite Trace stories from this year:
- They Lost Loved Ones to Guns. They’re Sharing Their Stories So Things Will Be Different.
- The Straw Man
- This Researcher Is Changing How Rural Gunshot Victims Access Care
- To Prevent Suicide, States Want to Let People Ban Themselves From Buying Guns
From The Trace
- What We Learned About Gun Violence in 2024: From the maternal homicide crisis to a multimillion-dollar legal campaign against firearm regulations, our editor in chief on The Trace’s crucial reporting — and what it might mean for 2025.
- When Pregnancy Makes You a Target: Pregnant people are more likely to die by homicide than any obstetric-related cause — particularly if they are young or Black. These three women are seeking justice for their daughters.
- To Counter Gun Violence, He Recruits Police From the Communities Most Afflicted: As Midwestern cities reject calls for police reform, a chief deputy in Ohio is fighting for a community policing approach to gun violence.
- Listen to ‘Roots and Realities,’ a Series on Gun Violence in Philadelphia: Mensah M. Dean worked with The Philadelphia Citizen to record podcast editions of his stories about the causes and consequences of gunfire in Black America.
- The Most Memorable Gun Stories From 2024: Our staff rounds up the must-read stories from other newsrooms, including investigations that shine a light and the features and essays that show how strong and resilient people can be.
What to Know This Week
An audit and tax filing obtained by a government watchdog group shows that the National Rifle Association’s revenues continued to plummet last year, reaching historic lows. The gun group has seen its clout diminish in recent years, as it’s suffered from shrinking membership and costly legal battles. [CREW]
Nearly two years after it was first announced, Baltimore’s pilot school-based violence intervention program is off the ground in four public high schools that have dealt with shootings in the last few years — and the program appears to be making a difference. Since the initial launch in August, participating schools have seen a change in atmosphere, said a city official who oversees the program, and dozens of intervention sessions have mediated student conflicts before they escalated to violence. [The Baltimore Banner]
Community gun violence disproportionately touches marginalized groups, and harmful news reporting can exacerbate the trauma — but reducing harmful reporting, and researching its effects on communities, is difficult without consensus on what it looks like in practice. A new study identifies a definition. [PLOS]
Via The Bulletin newsletter: Under President Joe Biden, the ATF adopted an aggressive policy agenda to reduce gun violence, including efforts to crack down on ghost guns and step up policing of lawbreaking gun dealers. Donald Trump is likely to roll those policies back, and the agency — whose power the gun lobby and its congressional allies have worked to diminish — itself faces a deeply uncertain future. ATF Director Steven Dettelbach, the Biden appointee whom Trump has promised to fire, has said he plans to quit before the president-elect takes power. [The New York Times]
In Memoriam
John Viruete, 16, “was basically a teddy bear,” his sister told the Chicago Sun-Times — he cared deeply about the people he loved, made fast friends, and had an infectious, goofy smile that stretched all the way to his ears. John was shot and killed in Chicago last week. He was the youngest of four, and the only boy among his siblings. He was mischievous, at the same time a typical teenager and “his own man.” “He was also lovable, easy to talk to,” his sister said. “Caring, sentimental, the person that would lend an ear, [a] hard worker, and just a sweet boy that loved his niece and nephew.”
We Recommend
12 Years Later, Two Different Tales of Grief for Sandy Hook Parents
“I did not want to be another victim of Adam Lanza.” [The Atlantic]
Pull Quote
“Shaniyah wasn’t just my daughter, she was my best friend, and I know that Millianni was my grandchild but she was my daughter, too. Millianni took her last breath in my arms, but she was supposed to make it. She is supposed to be here.”
— Adrienne Rodriguez, whose only daughter, Shaniyah, was shot and killed, leading to the premature birth and eventual death of her child, giving a victim impact statement at the DeKalb County Courthouse in Georgia, as reported in The Trace
