Juvenile Justice Information Exchange (https://jjie.org/tag/firearms/)
Ghost guns — so-called because they are nearly impossible to trace — are sold in parts and assembled by the buyer. Until recently, they were not classified as firearms, meaning there were no background checks and dealers didn’t have to be federally-licensed.
That has opened the door for traffickers, teens and people with felony records to get ghost guns.
Going on outdoor walks without a mask. Hopping on a Washington, D.C. Metro train without holding my breath. Meeting friends at restaurants and bars … Resuming those and other parts of my pre-pandemic life has been fun. It’s also been scary — and not for reasons related to COVID-19. I’m Asian American, which can make being in public dangerous.
The FBI reported that, in 2020, the number of hate crimes targeting Asian people rose from 158 to 274, a more than 70% increase.
According to the Violence Policy Center’s 2019 report When Men Murder Women, 92% of homicides committed against women were perpetrated by men known to the women.
When Susan Shipman took a job as a bookkeeper at a women’s shelter in Anniston in 2003, she didn’t realize how close to her own home violence already was.
“I signed up for a flexible, part-time job,” Shipman, 57, said. “And I found myself in the movement to end violence against women.”
By 2006, Shipman was the executive director of 2nd Chance Inc., a nonprofit safety and support organization for victims of domestic and sexual violence serving nearly 500 women and children annually in North Alabama.
Dozens of white boxes sat stacked atop shelves and propped against walls on a recent Wednesday in a small room in the back of the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office. Some...
Conversations about firearms have been historically entrenched in political debate with little regard for gun safety, a life-saving, nonpartisan issue. There’s a serious and immediate need for effective strategies to reduce all forms of gun violence, including mass shootings, “urban gun violence,” suicide and unintentional child shootings.
This story is part of a series on public health and firearms. The first examined groups working to reduce homicide in Birmingham. The second interviewed Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin about his office’s peace initiative. The third examined a proposed voluntary “do not sell” list for Alabamians suffering mental illness, which aims to prevent firearm access for people with suicidal ideation.