The Truth About Suicide and Guns: Read the full report here.
A tragic family fire incident in California led to a woman being hospitalized after her son accidentally shot her in a preschool parking lot. Daily Kos reports that the shotgun had been left loaded in her car, and the child found it and started playing with it in the backseat.
Gun safety has continued to be a top issue on Capitol Hill as the newly inaugurated 116th Congress dives into action. A number of New Jersey legislators, including Brady-endorsed Reps. Andy Kim, Tom Malinowski, Mikie Sherrill, and Chris Smith, are taking a leading role in a range of legislative proposals, as reported by NJ Advance Media.
In California, newly inaugurated governor Gavin Newsom is moving quickly to strengthen the state’s already robust gun safety laws. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Amanda Wilcox of the California Chapters of the Brady Campaign applauded the governor’s commitment to keeping guns out of dangerous hands and expressed confidence that he will sign further legislation into law.
A new study released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that school shootings have become more frequent and more deadly over the past few years, with eight multiple-victim homicides between 2016 and 2018 alone. Brady VP, Programs Kyleanne Hunter discussed the study with HealthDay, noting the correlation between the increase in shootings and the end of the federal ban on assault weapons.
This week, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it will hear a Second Amendment case, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. City of New York, for the first time in nearly a decade. The Brady Center, which has been the leading legal voice in the gun safety movement for 30 years, made clear that “the stakes for this case are nothing less than life or death.” Jonathan Lowy, VP, Litigation at the Brady Center, spoke with Bloomberg News about the importance of the case and what it might mean going forward.
As states look ahead to their legislative priorities over the next year, Brady’s program manager in Milwaukee, Anneliese Dickman, suggested to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that comprehensive gun laws should be on the table in Wisconsin.
An Iowa school district is planning on introducing a mandatory gun safety course for two middle schools focused on hunting and survival skills. Brady VP Kyleanne Hunter spoke with Fox News about the issues with the program, noting that middle schoolers aren’t able to tell the difference between a loaded and unloaded gun and that the responsibility for safe storage rests with the adults.
The San Francisco Chronicle, exploring where guns used in Oakland crimes come from, spoke with California-based Brady program managers Erica Rice and Steve Lindley about the importance of gun tracing.
China’s largest news agency Xinhua published a “year-ender” analysis of the state of gun violence in America. Among experts quoted in the article was Brady Vice President for Programs Kyleanne Hunter on the historical role of the NRA in blocking meaningful gun reform.
News outlets around the country covered the shooting death of a 7-year old girl in Texas, the latest tragedy of a child’s death by a gun. A Houston Chronicle editorial attributed to Brady the statistic that eight children and teens die in gun violence every day in America.
