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More garbage from the trace is pasted below.

 

Forward this email to a friend There are lots of reasons to believe 2020 could be a pivotal year for gun violence in America.

 

Already, gun reform advocates are buoyed by the $25 million in new federal funding for gun violence research that Democrats secured in the 2020 budget, the first time Congress has appropriated such money since 1996. Meanwhile, the liveliest grounds for gun policymaking in 2020 will still be in state capitals. The GOP, holding power in the White House and Senate, has stymied efforts to pass federal gun reforms, but Democrats are hoping a renewed sense of national outrage over gun violence amid a slew of mass shootings in 2019 has made the issue a political winner. The 2020 races will give that premise its first significant test at the ballot box.

 

There are also looming questions for major organizations in the gun fight. While the National Rifle Association remains the preeminent force on the gun rights side, it has been buffeted by recent multi-million dollar deficits, ongoing legal battles, and official investigations into financial malfeasance.

 

Its impossible to think about the gun issue in isolation from broader and deeper currents in America, Kristin Goss, a professor of public policy and political science at Duke University, told The Trace. She pointed to a groundswell of political organizing, voter registration and turnout efforts for the 2020 elections, mounting support for nonpartisan redistricting efforts, and the steady toll of mass shootings and domestic terrorism incidents as factors with the potential to scramble gun politics, with great uncertainty about which side of the gun debate will gain advantage.

 

To get a deeper sense of the fault lines in the gun debate, we polled 13 experts on the policy, politics, and science of gun violence about what to look for and what questions we should be asking in 2020. They offered perspectives on the above political dynamics, the prospect of another major Supreme Court gun case, how the $25 million in new research funding (though welcome) is still not enough to meet the scale of the gun violence problem, and how the trend of states passing red flag laws to disarm individuals deemed to be a social threat could engender resistance from far-right extremists.

 

Read the full takeaways, which also include discussion of mass shootings and community violence prevention efforts, here. Tom Kutsch, news editor WHAT TO KNOW THIS WEEK

 

A gunman opened fire during a church service near Fort Worth, Texas, killing two members of the churchs volunteer security team before being fatally shot by a third volunteer guard. [buzzFeed News]

 

At least two people were killed and several others were wounded across the country as a result of celebratory gunfire during New Year's Eve revelry. [The Trace]

 

Multiple homicide hotspots recorded murder declines last year, including Chicago, Newark, and New Orleans. But elsewhere, like St. Louis, Oakland, and Baltimore, the trendlines remain pointed in the wrong direction. [The Trace]

 

There were more mass killings in the U.S. in 2019 than any year dating back to the 1970s, according to a database compiled by the AP, USA Today, and Northeastern University. Eighty percent of them were firearm killings. [AP]

 

Three more states Colorado, Hawaii, and Nevada implemented a red flag law in the new year, bringing the total number of states with such laws to 17. [The Trace]

 

At least 3,769 kids under 18 were shot in the U.S. in 2019, nearly 1,000 of them fatally. [Gun Violence Archive]

 

 

 

We keep the focus on Americas gun violence epidemic

 

 

 

The Trace is the only newsroom dedicated to covering gun violence full-time. Will you support our nonprofit newsroom today?

 

Yes, Ill become a member!

 

SPOTLIGHT ON SOLUTIONS

 

Three years ago, Chicago had just emerged from its bloodiest 365-day span in nearly two decades. The 2016 surge nearly 780 people killed compared to 490 the year before resulted in wall-to-wall news coverage and rampant speculation about what might have kicked off such a crisis.

 

Now, the story of Chicagos gun violence is markedly different. The police reported that the city endured 492 murders in 2019, the third straight annual decline. The number of shooting victims fell as well, to 2,611 from more than 4,300 in 2016.

 

City officials give partial credit to the police departments rollout of district-level support centers, where officers harness data and technology such as gunshot detection systems and surveillance cameras to stop shootings before they occur.

 

There is evidence to support the citys assertion. Englewood, long one of Chicagos most troubled hotspots, was one of the first districts to receive a support center, and subsequent research by the University of Chicago Crime Lab found that it contributed to the decrease in violence there in 2017. As of December 29, Englewoods murders and shootings had plummeted some 50 percent over their 2016 levels.

 

In other neighborhoods, the picture is less clear. In Harrison on the West Side, the support center could have had an effect, but researchers didnt have a good way to compare to the district against an area without a center.

 

And despite the improvements, Chicagos 492 murders last year still far outpaced those in the only other two bigger cities in America. New York City, with an estimated population thats three times greater than Chicagos, recorded 315 murders through December 29. Los Angeles, meanwhile, recorded 254 homicides through December 28.

 

The declines in Chicago are absolutely good news, Ames Grawert, who has analyzed crime trends for the Brennan Center for Justice at New York Universitys School of Law, said recently on NBC News. The catch, though, is that things are still pretty dicey in Chicago; violence is still unacceptably high there. Brian Freskos, staff writer IN MEMORIAM

 

On New Years Eve, Monique Baugh, 28, was shot multiple times in an alley in Minneapolis. She later died at a hospital. Baugh, a real estate agent, had been on her way to show someone a house when she was killed, family members said. A co-worker remembered her as dependent, reliable, resilient, loyal, strong. The CEO of her real estate agency described her as a beautiful person who was kind and compassionate to everyone. She was very driven and was a joy to work with. He added, Monique was a loving mother who always put her children first. Her kids are now in the care of her family members. When I see the kids, I see Monique, her aunt, Lucille Baugh, said. Its going to be very hard. Baugh was Minneapoliss 48th and final homicide victim of 2019. MAY WE RECOMMEND

 

This Sun-Sentinel investigation into youth gun suicide. Someone between the ages of 10 and 19 takes their life with a gun roughly once a week in Florida, yet guns are barely mentioned in youth suicide-prevention efforts by state and local authorities, the Sun-Sentinel reports in this sprawling, data-driven examination. Because of the staggering and preventable role that guns play in suicides, experts say the taboo subject of access to firearms must now become a key part of the discussion.

 

PULL QUOTE

 

I never understood people who measure freedom by how many of us walk around with guns. This is a cultural change, the spreading of the gun culture from a corner of the GOP to the entire conservative moment.

 

 

 

Tom Nichols, professor at U.S. Naval War College and former Republican party member, on Twitter.

 

The Canon is compiled by Jennifer Mascia.

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