Millions of children in U.S. live in a home with an unlocked and loaded firearm

Rural residents are more likely to own firearms than
their urban counterparts. (Photo by S. Bauman, Unsplash)

Among the roughly 32 million children in the U.S. who live in households with firearms, almost 7 million are in a home that has "at least one gun that's unlocked and loaded, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Network Open," reports Rhitu Chatterjee of NPR. The study's tally may be more concerning for rural Americans, who are 24% more likely to own a gun than their urban counterparts.

Study results highlighted how many children have easy access to a loaded gun. Dr. Chethan Sathya, a pediatric surgeon who works to prevent gun violence, told NPR, "Many of these families don't know the risk of having that gun not being locked up."

To uncover how households with firearms were storing their weapons, the study "surveyed 900 parents of kids under 18 who own guns," Chatterjee writes. "Nearly 35% said they stored them in the safest way possible — unloaded and locked up. But 21% had at least one firearm in the house unlocked and loaded — the least safe way possible to store a gun."

Children's ages seemed to be a factor among some survey respondents. Chatterjee explains, "Parents of children under 13 were more likely to keep their firearms unloaded and locked away compared to parents of teenagers."

Matthew Miller, who led the study, pointed out that "teenagers are more likely to commit suicide, and school shooters are also more likely to be in their teens than younger kids," Chatterjee adds. "So parents of teenagers should take just as much care to unload and lock away their firearms."

Sadly, many American families have lost children to gun deaths that may have been prevented if the firearm had been locked up or at least not loaded. Chatterjee reports, "Since 2020, firearms have been the leading cause of death among children and teens." While nearly 3 in 5 child firearm deaths were due to gun assaults, almost a third were suicides.

Tips and resources for reporting on crime data

The CDC has an active dashboard that maps death rates across the country 
by Census tract, county or state. (CDC map)

Tips from a recent webinar with three crime data experts, narrated by Clark Merrefield of The Journalist's Resource, can help local journalists report on crime trends, fact-check law enforcement, discuss policy, and foster a dialogue about community safety. An edited version of Merrefield's tips from the discussion is shared below.

Get to know The Trace’s Gun Violence Data Hub, which meets three major needs for crime data research and reporting:

• The help desk, where anyone "can ask questions of reporters and editors at The Trace," Merrefield writes. "Reach out for help understanding gun violence in the areas you cover; collecting, cleaning and analyzing data on gun violence."
• A resource page that houses fact sheets, guides, and a glossary, which can aid in investigations of all sizes.
• The data library for "trustworthy data on a range of gun violence topics, from ghost guns to suicide to road rage," Merrefield notes. "The library includes data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Transportation Security Administration and many others."

Explore data focused on public safety research and data:

• The WONDER database from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention includes numbers on gun deaths and compressed mortality data.
• The Gun Violence Archive, which "tracks gun violence incidents across the country from more than 7,500 sources, including law enforcement agencies and news media reports," Merrefield writes.
• The Mapping Police Violence provides up-to-date data on police-involved killings in the U.S. 
• The CDC dashboard, which maps violent death rates across the country by Census tract, county or state. 

 Learn which data can help you fact-check statements from public officials.

"Beyond published data on reported crimes, victimization surveys are a major source of crime data that journalists can use to vet statements from officials," Merrefield explains. "The best known is the National Crime Victimization Survey from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. This survey each year reaches a nationally representative sample of roughly 240,000 people and asks whether they have been victims of personal or property crimes — and why the crime was or wasn’t reported to police."

To identify trends in a specific area, aim for at least 5 years of data.

If data doesn't make sense, question it. If it can't be verified, don't use it.

Merrefield's webinar panel experts included: Jeffrey A. Butts, a research professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Executive Director of the John Jay Research and Evaluation Center; Mensah M. Dean, a staff writer at The Trace, a nonprofit newsroom that covers gun violence; and George LeVines, editor of The Trace’s Gun Violence Data Hub, which is open to the public. 

Opinion: Rural policing writer disagrees with Wall Street Journal article about rural law enforcement violence

Rural police officers have high rates of shootings, but they 
are also more likely to get shot. (Adobe Stock photo)

A Wall Street Journal story about violence in rural policing gets some concepts right; however, the story's data and overall conclusions are faulty, writes rural police reporter Kathleen Dias in her column for Police1. "I agree with the premise of the article: there really are a lot of harsh interactions between law enforcement and the public in rural places. . . . Where the WSJ writer and I disagree is in the conclusion he draws (that rural cops kill people because they are poorly trained or trained to overreact), the sources for his statistics, and his slant."

"Rural places have high rates of shootings by law enforcement and also of law enforcement officers who get shot; that’s not new information or a new trend," Dias explains. "The writer is also correct that rural agencies frequently lack the ability to use the tools of time, distance and backup to defuse volatile situations."

The article's primary focus is that "rural sheriffs are killing more civilians," Dias adds. "The writer cites Mapping Police Violence stating that since 2013, killings by sheriff’s deputies have risen 43% while killings by police have risen by 3%. . . . First, sheriff’s offices are not all rural [and] not all rural police interactions, lethal or otherwise, are by sheriff’s offices."

Overall, MPV as a source is "profoundly troublesome. 'Police violence' is a broad, provocative term," Dias explains. "The definition from MPV is 'Any incident where a law enforcement officer (off-duty or on-duty) applies, on a civilian, lethal force resulting in the civilian being killed. . . . I found incidents like an off-duty Virginia state trooper who killed a man who was breaking into his home, an off-duty officer who killed his domestic partner and then himself, an off-duty deputy who struck a bicycle rider at night on a Florida highway notorious for wrecks. . ."

The WSJ article uses examples that aren't rural. Dias writes, "The article is about rural police killings, yet the first several quotes are from urban sheriffs about their resources, their experiences and cultural changes they made."

There was an "implicit undertone in the WSJ article’s descriptions of small towns and remote places of the incongruity of violence in those places — that somehow a rural setting made violence even less acceptable than usual," Dias writes. "I believe that underscores the writer’s lack of understanding of rural places, and also the perception of risk by officers."

What rural officers do face is populations that are "more likely to be poor, addicted to alcohol and illegal substances, and to attempt or complete suicide than their urban neighbors," Dias points out. "Rural officers are often poorly paid, and departments do struggle with recruiting, retention and churn that can result in bad hiring choices."

Rural officers need more staff, higher pay, additional training and equipment that works. "I’ll go to the wall with the WSJ writer on those points," Dias adds. "The officers themselves are not the problem. Indeed, they’re expected to be the solution to every problem that comes the way of every other resident, but that’s impossible. They’re cops, not Swiss Army knives."

Read all of Dias' opinion, including her comparison of the WSJ article to a Washington Post story here.

Analysis: Rural women are more likely to face domestic violence or be killed by an intimate partner

Physical and social isolation can keep abused women from 
asking for help. (Getty Images photo via Conversaiton CC)

Not only are rural women more likely to face violence or be killed by a partner, they also face fewer intervention options and stigmas that discourage them from asking for help. Regional acceptance of violence against women, social and physical isolation, and gun ownership can all be contributing factors.

"I analyzed aggregate 1992 to 2005 National Crime Victimization Survey data, and this data conclusively shows that rural women across the U.S. report physical and sexual violence at higher rates than those in more densely populated areas," explains rural violence expert Walter S. DeKeseredy for The Conversation.

While many people may think rural living is safer, for many women, it's often the opposite. "Rural women in the U.S. are more likely to be killed by their current or former male partners compared to their urban and suburban counterparts," DeKeseredy writes. "A study looking at data from 2005 to 2017 across 16 states, for example, found that female homicide rates are higher in rural places."

Why rural women are more at risk for violence is a complex mix of shared misogyny, fewer witnesses, higher gun ownership rates and social stigmas. DeKeseredy writes, "In rural sections of Ohio and other states, as my research uncovered, there is common acceptance of abuse of women. In many rural areas, community norms often prohibit survivors from publicly talking about their experiences and from seeking help."

Gun ownership is more common in rural places, but it has been correlated to "intimate partner violence in rural parts of the U.S.," DeKeseredy explains. "Moreover, firearms are used in 54% of all rural domestic homicides. . . .Gun ownership can create safety concerns for social workers, many of whom work alone."

So far, efforts to prevent violence against rural women has been focused on gun control or firearm background checks. And rural libraries "have proven to be a vital resource in the struggle to end interpersonal forms of abuse of women," DeKeseredy writes. "They are more accessible in many U.S. rural communities than are shelters, public transportation and other services."

Study looks at American gun ownership: A firearm can make owners feel safer, but it can also increase anxieties

Owners can have complicated reactions to having
their firearm nearby. (Adobe Stock photo)

U.S. gun owners come with a wide variety of backstories about why they like owning a firearm, but research suggests that most owners share some of the same reasons for wanting a gun, writes Nick Buttrick for The Conversation. "American gun owners tend to agree. . .that guns are for personal protection. In a 2023 Pew survey, 72% of gun owners reported that they owned a firearm at least in part for protection. . . 81% of gun owners reported that owning a gun helped them to feel safer."

Guns can also help their owners feel emotionally protected. Buttrick explains. "Owning a gun helps them feel more in control of the world around them and more able to live meaningful, purposeful lives that connect to the people and communities they care for." For individuals or families who fear police or government "are either unable or unwilling to keep them safe," a gun can provide an added layer of psychological assurance.

Even though some gun owners may feel safer with a deadly weapon, having one comes with hidden threats that owners may not recognize. "When gun owners look for danger, they often are more likely to find it," Buttrick adds. "[They] may end up perceiving the world as a more dangerous place, institutions as more uncaring or incompetent, and their private actions as all the more important for securing their lives and their livelihoods."

To gauge how gun owners psychologically relate to their weapon, Buttrick and his colleagues "recruited a group of over 150 firearms owners. . .along with over 100 demographically matched Americans who have never owned a gun," Buttrick explains. When gun-owning participants were "subtly reminded of guns in general. . .our participants reported feeling more safe and in control. About half of the times that we texted, the gun owners told us that they had a gun accessible. . . . When a gun was handy, participants [said] they felt more vigilant and anxious, and that their immediate situation was more chaotic."

Buttrick writes, "To more fully understand the many ways responsible firearm ownership can look, we are interviewing gun owners from all around the state of Wisconsin, a notably diverse state when it comes to gun ownership. . . We hope to learn more about the many different ways that people conceptualize what a gun can do for them."

Opinion: 'Red flag' laws help prevent firearm suicides in the U.S., but they curb gun rights. It's a balancing act of risks.

ERPOs can prevent firearm suicides, but striking a
balance with gun rights is difficult to measure. (A.S. photo)

Access to a firearm can mean a person at the crossroads of ending their own life will succeed. Even though many other means of suicide exist, almost none are more predictably final. Psychiatry researcher Jeffrey W. Swanson looks at how extreme risk protection order laws prevent suicides and how they intersect with gun rights in his opinion for JAMA Network Open. Swanson first sees the topic through the lens of his 18-year-old cousin's suicide.

"The sound of my grandmother’s trembling voice lingers from that winter morning, almost 40 years ago now, when she called with awful news. My beautiful cousin Kristin had come home from college for the holidays and killed herself with a shotgun. . . . I was a new faculty member in a psychiatry department at the time, embarking on a career in which I would spend decades researching ways to prevent death and injury from guns.

"Aunt Helen asked me what could have saved their youngest child. I suggested Kristin had succumbed to a fatal illness; it was no one’s fault. . . .Today I would give a different answer. I would say Kristin died from a preventable injury with a firearm. I would add that a law prohibiting her access to a gun might have kept Kristin alive."

Extreme risk protection order laws, also known as red flag laws, "provide a civil court process designed to prevent firearm injuries by temporarily disarming individuals who pose an imminent risk of harm to themselves or others. An ERPO also prohibits a person from purchasing or possessing a firearm while the order is in effect, typically for up to a year," Swanson explains. "With the clarity of excruciating hindsight, it seems obvious that Kristin’s ability to acquire a firearm was a decisive factor in her death."

ERPOs have gained traction across the country as legislatures search for ways to reduce firearm deaths. At the same time, gun rights matter, so where is the balance? Swanson presents the paradox: "How do we know when someone poses enough danger to justify deploying police authority to remove their firearms? Risk means uncertainty, by definition, and risk assessment will always be an imperfect predictor of rare adverse events such as suicide; the significant risk factors all apply to many more people who will not die from suicide than those who will. Thus, for every hypothetical death averted by an ERPO, there will always be some ERPO respondents who would not actually have harmed themselves, or anyone else, had they been left (literally) to their own devices. We just do not know who they are in advance."

There are statistics to back up ERPO's effectiveness. "A widely cited statistic from our group’s research studies of suicide deaths among ERPO respondents in Connecticut and Indiana is that for every 10 to 20 ERPOs issued, 1 suicide was averted," Swanson adds. "In a nation where private gun ownership is commonplace, culturally entrenched, and constitutionally protected, feasible solutions to gun violence hang in the balance of risk and rights. . . . [Yet] in a country where more than 20, 000 people every year die of suicide with firearms, it is impossible to ignore that what is too late for Kristin could save many today."

Uvalde families have filed a $500 million suit against Texas state police just before anniversary of school shooting

Front page of Uvalde Leader-News special
memorial section for Robb Elementary shooting.

On May 24, 2022, Salvador Ramos, 18, killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in rural Uvalde, Texas. It was the deadliest shooting at a U.S. school since 2012 when 28 were killed in Sandy Hook, Conn., another small community.

Now, the families of 17 of the 19 fourth-grade children who were shot and killed and two who were wounded have "filed a $500 million federal lawsuit against nearly 100 state police officers who were part of the botched law enforcement response," report Acacia Coronado and Jim Vertuno of The Associated Press. "The lawsuit. . . is the latest of several seeking accountability for the law enforcement response. More than 370 federal, state and local officers converged on the scene, but they waited more than 70 minutes before confronting the shooter."

On the day of the attack, once teachers and students realized an active shooter was in their school, they followed active shooter protocols. The state police did not. "The lawsuit notes that state troopers did not follow their active shooter training or confront the shooter," Coronado and Ventuno write. This federal lawsuit is the first "to be filed after a 600-page Justice Department report was released in January that cataloged 'cascading failures' in training, communication, leadership and technology problems that day."

Earlier this week, the families "agreed to a $2 million settlement with the city, under which city leaders promised higher standards and better training for local police," Coronado and Ventuno write. "Families said the settlement was capped at $2 million because they didn't want to bankrupt the city where they still live. . . . The settlement establishes May 24 as an annual day of remembrance, a permanent memorial in the city plaza, and support for mental health services for the families and the greater Uvalde area."

The $500 million federal lawsuit isn't the only active lawsuit brought by families, nor is it the biggest. "A separate lawsuit was filed by different plaintiffs in December 2022 against local and state police, the city, and other schools and law enforcement, seeking at least $27 billion in class-action status for survivors," AP reports. "And at least two other lawsuits have been filed against Georgia-based gun manufacturer Daniel Defense, which made the AR-style rifle used by the gunman."

Bobbie Foust, still reporting at 90, wins Al Smith Award for public service through community journalism in Kentucky

Bobbie Foust

Bobbie Foust, for decades a fixture in West Kentucky journalism, is the winner of the 2024 Al Smith Award for public service through community journalism by a Kentuckian, presented by the Institute for Rural Journalism at the University of Kentucky and the Bluegrass Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

Foust has edited three newspapers in the region and reported for others, and though she just turned 90, she is still covering city council meetings according to her decades-old approach: “Be honest, be accurate; be open with people, be kind when I can, but perform the journalistic function: report the facts and let the results fall where they may.”

In semi-retirement Foust is also writing historical articles about the region, and continuing her community service. In 2018, she served as the news-media liaison and adviser for a group of Marshall County High School students who sought gun-control measures after a mass shooting at the school in the pro-gun county. One of the parents, Gloria Hollifield, said in an award nomination, “She has the tenacity and the courage to stand for what is right, regardless of the backlash she undoubtedly faced.”

While Foust was not acting as a journalist in that role, she was using her journalism experience and skills to perform a public service, said Al Cross, director emeritus of the rural-journalism institute and secretary of the SPJ chapter. “In community journalism, journalists are by definition members of the community they serve, sometimes in ways other than journalism,” he said. “Bobbie has made clear since supposedly retiring eight years ago that she will continue to help her neighbors with journalism and other community service.”

Foust retired from the Herald-Ledger in Eddyville in January 2016, but has continued to write for The Paducah Sun and The Lake News in Calvert City, and cover the Calvert City council for the Benton Tribune-Courier, which she edited twice. She also edited the Marshall County Messenger and was editor of the Eddyville paper in her first stint there.

She has interviewed Bill Clinton, Jesse Jackson and Billy Graham; covered executions at the Kentucky State Penitentiary; and has long followed the evolution and devolution of Land Between the Lakes, the recreation area created on 170,000 acres that the Tennessee Valley Authority took from people living between Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley. As TVA prepared to give up the LBL to the Forest Service, and Foust tried to hold officials’ feet to the fire, TVA Board Chair “Craven [Crowell] got to where he wouldn’t talk to me,” Foust recalled, adding that in her career, “That has been the continuing story that I feel like may have benefited the citizenry.”

Foust began her career at Calvert City’s first newspaper, the Valley Sun, in 1961. The newspaper closed the next year, but Foust said she freelanced as she dealt with “four little curtain-climbers” that she brought into the world from 1956 to 1959. In 1968 she joined The Calvert News and then its parent paper, the Benton Tribune-Democrat, and then its successor, the Tribune Courier. She joined the startup Marshall County Messenger as editor in 1977 and returned to the Tribune Courier in 1979, becoming editor in 1980.

Foust made the Tribune Courier a National Blue Ribbon Newspaper, an award given by the National Newspaper Foundation, and won many awards from the Kentucky Press Association, including Freedom of Information, Community Service, news and sports reporting, and photography. But she fell out with the paper’s owner, Walt Dear, and went to work with her friend Frances Baccus at the Eddyville paper, where she was editor. When it sold three and a half years later, she joined The Paducah Sun, the regional daily, and stayed seven years, until she turned 65.

She and her husband Ray Foust traveled widely, but she also helped with special projects at the Sun, and in 2001 Editor Jim Paxton made her editor of the Tribune Courier, which his family media company had purchased. She left 20 months later when her husband suffered a terminal illness, but after his death again she joined the Herald Ledger, by then also a Paxton paper, as a reporter. Even after she left the job in 2016, she kept doing journalism “because I love it,” she says. “I will probably write something the day that I die. . . . I’m curious about what’s going on; I love interaction with people.”

Institute for Rural Journalism Director Benjy Hamm said, “Few journalists in Kentucky history can match the longevity and level of service that Bobbie Foust has provided as a reporter and editor to numerous communities in the commonwealth since 1961. She exhibits many of the qualities of Al Smith – including a lifetime of service – and is a worthy recipient of the award named for him.”

Bluegrass SPJ President Casey Parker-Bell of KET, a fellow native of the Jackson Purchase, said, “Bobbie Foust’s story exemplifies the type of journalism that Kentucky needs. She has the tenacity and courage all journalists should strive for, and is deserving of this year’s Al Smith Award.”

The award is named for the late Albert P. Smith Jr., who was the driving force for creation of the Institute for Rural Journalism, headed its advisory board and was its chair emeritus until his death in 2021. He published newspapers in Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee, was founding producer and host of KET’s “Comment on Kentucky,” and federal co-chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission. He was the first winner of the award, in 2011.

Foust will be honored at the Al Smith Awards Dinner Oct. 10 at the Embassy Suites Lexington on Newtown Pike, near Interstate 64/75. She will be joined by Eric Meyer, editor-publisher of the Marion County Record in Kansas, the 2024 winner of the Institute’s national Tom and Pat Gish Award for courage, tenacity and integrity in rural journalism, along with winners of chapter scholarships. The guest speaker will be Campbell Robertson, who covers Kentucky and other states for The New York Times. For updates see www.RuralJournalism.org.

Besides Smith, previous winners of the Smith Award, and their affiliations at the time, are:
2012: Jennifer P. Brown, Kentucky New Era; and Max Heath, Landmark Community Newspapers
2013: John Nelson, Danville Advocate-Messenger
2014: Bill Bishop and Julie Ardery, The Daily Yonder
2015: Carl West, The State Journal, Frankfort
2016: Sharon Burton, Adair County Community Voice and The Farmer’s Pride
2017: Ryan Craig, Todd County Standard, and the late Larry Craig, Green River Republican
2018: Stevie Lowery, The Lebanon Enterprise
2019: David Thompson, Kentucky Press Association
2020: Becky Barnes, The Cynthiana Democrat
2021: WKMS News, Murray State University
2022: Chris and Allison Evans, The Crittenden Press, Marion
2023: Ben Gish and Sam Adams, The Mountain Eagle, Whitesburg

The number of children who have lost a parent to drug overdose or firearms climbs; overdose loss is up 345%

Nearly 100,000 children lost parents to a drug overdose
or gun violence in 2020. (Adobe Stock photo)

Over the past 20 years, the number of U.S. children who have faced a parent's death from drug overdose or firearms has increased at an alarming pace. These children are left to grapple with a loss that impacts how they thrive or don't thrive throughout their developmental years and into adulthood.

"Nearly 100,000 children lost parents to a drug overdose or gun violence in 2020 alone – almost three times more than in 1999," reports Deidre McPhillips of CNN. "Overall, more than 1 million children have lost a parent to a fatal drug overdose or gun violence over the past two decades, according to the study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The increase in the number of parent-age deaths from drug overdose is staggering. McPhillips writes, "About 72,800 children lost a parent to a drug overdose in 2020, up 345% from the 16,000 children affected in 1999, according to the study."

The percentage increase in gun-related deaths is not as high as that for drug overdoses, but it's still startling. "There was a 39% increase in children who lost a parent to gun violence – from 18,000 in 1999 to 25,000 in 2020," McPhillips reports. By comparison, the number of children who lost parents due to other causes increased 24% between 1999 and 2020.

"Other research has shown that losing a parent can have negative effects on a child's health, education and livelihood – in both the short and long term," McPhillips adds.

Deaths due to drugs, guns or crime are not as acceptable for children and adults to discuss. Robin Gurwitch, a psychologist and professor at the Duke University School of Medicine, told McPhillips: "When it can't be talked about openly and freely, it makes it harder for children to get the support they need. For children who hold those things inside, the risk of it leaking out into everything from severe behavior challenges to bereavement disorders to other types of mental health challenges – anxiety, depression or their own substance abuse – goes way up."

New rule closes the 'gun show loophole' and will require more sellers to register as licensed firearms dealers

The new rule will dramatically increase firearm purchase
background checks. (PBS News Hour photo)

To deliver on gun control policy promises, the Biden administration has expanded the number of sellers who must register as federally licensed firearms dealers, reports Glenn Thrush and Erica L. Green of The New York Times. "That means those sellers must run background criminal and mental health checks on potential buyers. . . . [The change] is the broadest expansion of federal background checks and an attempt to regulate the shadow market of weapons sold online, at gun shows and through private sellers that have contributed to gun violence."

Although President Biden was blocked from implementing universal background checks for gun buyers, the administration used the bipartisan gun control law passed in 2022 to "achieve an elusive policy goal that enjoys widespread public support: closing the so-called gun show loophole," Thrush and Green write. "The new regulation, which is likely to face legal challenges, could add as many as 23,000 federal dealers to the 80,000 already regulated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives."

In many states, the gun show loophole allowed "unlicensed private sellers to legally sell at gun shows, out of their houses and through online platforms without having to submit to the background check system created to prevent sales to children, criminals, domestic abusers, and people with mental illnesses or drug addictions," the Times reports. "Four in 10 illegal gun cases tracked by the bureau from 2017 to 2021 involved such unregulated sales."

The new rule aims to accomplish two goals. It will "pull legitimate sellers into the regulatory sunlight and, second, to deprive brokers who knowingly traffic in criminal gun sales of a legal shield provided by the vagaries of federal firearms laws," Thrush and Green explain. Previous rules required gun sellers who made their chief income selling guns to join the federal system, but that wording has changed and now includes sellers who "predominantly derive a profit" to register. "Failing to register carries a penalty of up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines."

UPDATED: NRA's tax returns show declines in revenue, assets, member dues; longtime leader says he's quitting

Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway, Daily Beast via Getty

Despite its reputation as an organization with a powerful political reach, the National Rifle Association has been on a downward spiral sparked by declining revenue, internal fighting and alleged mismanagement. "Over the last several years, the NRA has experienced a public implosion, as the group loses members and revenue amid serious accusations of mismanagement and corruption," reports Roger Sollenberger of The Daily Beast. 

NRA's popularity and power began to slide more than a decade ago. Sollenberger writes, "The gun rights group's tax filings and political spending over the last 15 years provides some of the clearest evidence of its downfall. . . . Its most recent tax return, filed in November of this year for 2022, reveals dramatic declines along almost every conceivable metric: revenue, assets, member dues, lobbying, and political spending — with conversely sharp increases in legal costs and deficits."

The New York Times also reported that "On the eve of a legal battle in New York, Wayne LaPierre told board members on Friday that he would step down as the longtime chief of the National Rifle Association" effective Jan. 31. The Times reported that LaPierre "has led the organization for more than three decades. But his resignation came as he faced his gravest challenge yet, a corruption trial in Manhattan amid a legal showdown with New York’s attorney general, Letitia James. Jury selection has already begun and opening arguments were scheduled for early next week."

In 2010, the NRA wielded a powerful lobby. But in the wake of extreme gun violence in the U.S., 15 GOP senators "repudiated the NRA, passing the first meaningful gun control package in decades," Sollenberger writes. "That could be a signal of the NRA's demise, but it also could be interpreted as a reaction to the surging gun violence that continues to this day."

Regardless of why and how political favor and donor sentiment have changed, "The NRA today is in a dismal state. On the income side, 2022 was the fourth year in a row that revenue fell, marking its weakest fundraising year since at least 2008," Sollenberger reports. "Membership dues are at all-time lows, according to available public data, and staffing is at the lowest point since those costs began their downward plunge in 2016." 

Despite those numbers, NRA spokesman Billy McLaughlin said in a statement to the Daily Beast that the NRA remains the largest and most effective gun rights organization. 

Guns 'destroyed' in community buy-back programs often have parts that are removed and resold

A background check is usually not required to purchase a parts
kit from Gunbusters. (Gunbusters photo via the Times)

Community leaders and well-meaning citizens have encouraged gun destruction programs, but in truth, only some parts are destroyed and other parts are removed and resold, reports Mike McIntire of The New York Times. "Communities are fueling a secondary arms market, where weapons slated for destruction are recycled into civilian hands, often with no background check required, according to interviews and a review of gun disposal contracts, patent records and online listings for firearms parts."

People may think relinquished guns are melted down or pulverized because gun disposal companies market "destruction," but that's not the whole story. "This little-known but profitable corner of the firearms economy exists because the approved method of destroying a gun contains a loophole that has been exploited," McIntire explains. "To be able to say a gun is destroyed, disposal companies crush or cut up a single piece that federal law classifies as a firearm: the receiver or frame that anchors the other components and contains the required serial number. The businesses can then sell the remaining parts as a kit: barrel, trigger, grip, slide, stock, springs — essentially the entire gun, minus the regulated piece."

McIntire reports: "Some public officials and gun safety advocates said they had no clue this was happening. The Rev. Chris Yaw, whose Episcopal church outside Detroit has sponsored buybacks with local officials, said in an interview that he was 'aghast and appalled' when told by a reporter how the process works."

Part of the reason gun destruction companies sell parts is because their service is free. Scott Reed, president of the Gunbusters company, which patented a firearms "pulverizer," told McIntire, "Our services are free for law enforcement agencies. If we can't cover our costs by selling parts, then we charge them." McIntire reports, "Only about two percent of Gunbusters' clients pay to have the full firearm destroyed, he said. Federal agencies, including the Secret Service, are among them."

It's hard to know if those gun parts wind up back on the streets. "Salvaged gun parts typically do not include a serial number that can be traced," McIntire writes. "But while the parts kits have legitimate uses, they could also further the spread of so-called ghost guns when paired with an untraceable receiver or frame, said Nicholas Suplina, a senior lawyer with Everytown for Gun Safety. The number of do-it-yourself ghost guns turning up in violent crimes has surged, made possible by unfinished components — prefabricated metal pieces that need welding and drilling — that are not serialized, and often do not require a background check when purchased separately."

Report: Uvalde teachers and students correctly followed their live-shooter training, but officers weren't prepared

The 21 people who died on May 24, 2022, at Robb Elementary School.
(Courtesy photos, the Families via ABC News, Reuters, AP)

It was May 24, 2022, when Salvador Ramos entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and began shooting his AR-15-style rifle into classrooms. In the first four minutes, Ramos fired over 100 rounds that echoed throughout the building.

Surviving teachers and students knew they were targets, and instinctively followed their live-shooter training protocols. "They dropped to the floor, crouching under desks and countertops, far from the windows. . . . A few grabbed bloodied phones and dialed 911. . . . And as students across the country have been instructed for years, they remained quiet, impossibly quiet. . . and waited, report Lomi Kriel, Lexi Churchill and Jinitzail Hernández, co-authors from ProPublica and The Texas Tribune. Responding to 911 calls, "Hundreds of law enforcement officers descended on Robb Elementary School. They, too, waited. They waited for someone, anyone, to tell them what to do."

Once in the school, law enforcement waited for more than an hour to act. "They waited for the right keys and specialized equipment to open doors. They waited out of fear that the lack of ballistic shields and flash-bangs would leave them vulnerable against the power of an AR-15-style rifle. Most astonishingly, they waited for the children's cries to confirm that people were still alive inside the classrooms," according to the report. In total, 376 law enforcement officers responded, according to an investigation from the Texas House of Representatives.

After an exhaustive number of investigative interviews, listening, and watching hundreds of hours of video and body camera footage, the reporters from ProPublica, The Texas Tribune, and Frontline came to a conclusion. They write: "The children in Uvalde were prepared, dutifully following what they had learned during active shooter drills, even as their friends and teachers were bleeding to death. Many officers, who had trained at least once during their careers for such a situation, were not."

America has become a country where "mass shootings have become a fact of life, with at least 120 since the 1999 Columbine High School shooting," they write. "Debates often erupt along partisan lines as anguished communities demand change. . . . One thing that seemingly unites all sides is the notion of better training for law enforcement. But, in actuality, few laws exist requiring such instruction. . . . A nationwide analysis by the news organizations shows states require far more training to prepare students and teachers for a mass shooting than they do for the police who are expected to protect them."

Rural and urban residents share many views on politics and the economy, a new survey shows

American Communities Project chart, from americancommunities.org data

Even though rural and urban residents remain divided on some issues, a new study found they have a lot more political and economic concerns in common, reports Liz Carey of The Daily Yonder. "The American Communities Project survey questioned more than 5,000 people across 15 different community types to show a more complex picture of how rural and urban residents view issues."

The survey yielded several surprising results. "What was interesting," researcher Dante Chinni told Carey "is how much rural residents' opinions were similar to those of urban residents. . . . The study found that residents in rural communities felt that the biggest issue in their lives locally was inflation." Carey reports: "Only in communities in the African American South, a rural subcommunity within ACP's 15 community categories, did anything else come close to inflation as an issue." Guns and crime topped their list.

Nearly 70 percent of those surveyed "agreed with the statement 'Americans have much more in common with each other than is generally believed,'" Carey writes. Commenting on the shared responses, Chinni told Carey: "I think people really want this to be true. They want there to be more in common, whether or not there actually is."

When asked about abortion, most survey respondents in rural and urban communities "agreed with the statement 'Obtaining an abortion should be a decision made by a woman in consultation with her doctor, without government's involvement,'" Carey reports. Ari Pinkus, one of the project researchers, told Carey: "What's interesting is how abortion was widely accepted by at least 50% of the population, across the community types, even in (more rural conservative areas) where you would think that they would be less okay with abortion. . . . It could be the way we asked the question because people don't like to get in the way of a woman and her doctor, but it's still notable that abortion is a topic of unity in the population."

Survey respondents did voice differing ideas about gun ownership. Carey reports, "When asked if 'the right to own a firearm is central to what it means to be an American,' residents in more rural communities were more likely to agree, whereas those in urban counties were more likely to disagree."

Maine gun owner opinion: 'The only people capable of shifting the gun conversation are the people who buy them'

Smith & Wesson rifles civilian versions of the AR-15 for sale
at a gun show. (Photo by Luke Sharrett, The New York Times)

The Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution gives all Americans "the right to keep and bear arms," but the amendment's scope did not envision the AR-15 or a society that would tolerate hundreds of mass shootings. In his opinion for The Atlantic, Mainer and gun owner Tyler Austin Harper writes about why many American love their guns and asks, "How Much Blood Is Your Fun Worth?"

"During my first semester of teaching while in grad school, I made a habit of showing up to my classroom half an hour early. . . . The second week of classes, coffee in hand, I arrived to find an undergrad crouched in front of a half-open window. He was taking a photo with his phone, and when he saw me, he jumped. . . .When I asked if everything was all right, he said he was making sure the windows opened. 'My mom told me to always check to make sure they work, just in case, you know.' . . . . I must have looked confused because he continued: 'In case some gun nut with an AR-15 tries to shoot up the place. When a new semester starts, my mother makes me send her a photo of the open windows in each of my classrooms.' I tried to come up with something to say and found I could not.

"Last night, as I sat on my couch watching CNN anchors discuss a mass shooting that left 18 dead and 13 injured in Lewiston, Maine — the little city where I teach at Bates College and where I lived until recently — I thought about my terrified students who were sheltering in place. About my colleagues who live in town who could have been at the bar or bowling alley where the violence unfolded. . . . I thought about the hospital workers who were in the middle of the worst night of their life, I thought about all the people waiting for news, or getting news.

"As the night wore on and surreality gave way to cold reality, my grief also slowly gave way to guilt. I felt guilty and complicit. . . . I felt guilty because gun nuts are, whether I like it or not, my people: I grew up in gun country. I spent my teenage years working at a Pennsylvania gun club. I’ve been a gun owner nearly my entire life. . . . I am embarrassed to say that this is what it took — a place I love to become somewhere that a uniquely American tragedy has taken place — for me to fully understand our country’s mass-shooting problem.

"I am filled with nothing so much as rage. Rage at my gun-nut friends from home who will see this tragedy as a reason for less gun control, rather than more of it. . . . Rage at the politicians here and beyond who have refused to solve a problem for which solutions readily exist. Rage at myself for being so blind. . . . But it is only now that gun violence has visited my little corner of the world that I have been forced to confront reality, a truth that has been there all along but that I have refused to admit: I own guns because I like them and because I am an American and I’m allowed to and no one stops me.

"The inescapable fact is that the only people capable of shifting the gun conversation in this country are the people who buy them. . . . Yesterday’s events haven’t made me change my mind about being a gun owner. . . . . The shooting in Lewiston changed my mind about being a quiet gun owner. I have spent years of my life making apologies on behalf of my gun-nut acquaintances. Staying silent when friends bring up the National Rifle Association despite my fierce opposition to that organization. Not pushing back when they call minor reforms such as mandatory waiting periods 'totalitarian.' Changing the subject rather than asking 'Why do you need a military-style rifle?'

Read Harper's full essay here.

Mass shooting survivors face physicial and mental trauma, but perhaps worst of all, their sense of security is 'shattered'

The plaques are part of a memorial to the seven victims in
Highland Park, Illinois. (Photo by Roger Schneider, AP)

Mass shootings have stripped away much of what Americans always felt were public safety zones. Shooting survivors say the loss, fear and trauma never leave them, reports Claire Savage of The Associated Press. "Since 2016, thousands of Americans have been wounded in mass shootings, and tens of thousands by gun violence, with that number continuing to grow, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Beyond the colossal medical bills and the weight of trauma and grief, mass shooting survivors and family members contend with scores of other changes that upend their lives."

In speaking with individuals and families, Savage explores the aftermath of mass shootings. She writes, "Survivors talked about the mental and physical wounds that endure in the aftermath of shootings in Uvalde; Las Vegas; Colorado Springs, Colorado; and the Chicago suburb of Highland Park, Illinois, during a July Fourth parade last year."

The Zamora family, whose 11-year-old daughter Maya was airlifted out of Uvalde, Texas, after being critically injured in the Robb Elementary school shooting, shared a glimpse of how much the shooting changed their lives forever. Savage reports, "Mayah suffered wounds to her chest, back, both hands, face and ear, and needed so many surgeries her parents said they stopped counting. The family relocated to San Antonio, where Mayah spent 66 days in the hospital and still needs care. A year later, Christina and Mayah's father, Ruben, said they didn't know what bills would be covered by insurance. When Mayah was discharged, they realized one parent needed to stay home to care for her." Mayah's mother, Christina, told Savage: "Her hospital bill is insane. It reaches close to $1,000,000, maybe over." 

Leah Sundheim, 29, was a night manager at a hotel in Las Vegas when "she got 'the worst phone call you can ever receive," Savage writes."Her mother, Jacquelyn Sundheim, had been killed at a shooting during Highland Park's 2022 Fourth of July parade, along with six other people. . . . Mass shootings cause a variety of trauma, she said. Her experience is different from that of her aunt and cousins, who were sitting next to Jacquelyn Sundheim when she died." Sundheim told Savage: "That flight home broke me. . . . [trauma] shatters the sense of security that you have in the world."

From Las Vegas to Highland Park, shooting survivors impart unique losses and a common fear that nowhere is safe. "So far in 2023, nearly 400 people in the U.S. have been wounded in mass shootings, according to the Gun Violence Archive," Savage reports. "And 140 people have died in mass killings this year, which is on track to surpass 2019, the deadliest year on record for mass killings since 2006," according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in a partnership with Northeastern University.

Many rural counties are poorly equipped to deal with rising gun homicides; some of the worst rates are in the South

From 2016 to 2020, Phillips County had the country’s highest per capita
rate of gun homicides. (Photo by Renuka Rayasam, KFF Health News)

Homicides involving guns are often considered an urban problem, but rural America has its own firearm traumas that few communities have the resources to address effectively. "Nationwide, rural gun homicides have risen, and, in some areas, outpaced their urban counterparts. From 2016 to 2020, 13 of the 20 counties with the highest gun homicide rates were in the rural South, according to the Center for American Progress, a policy research institute, reports Renuka Rayasam for The Daily Yonder.

Elaine, Arkansas, pop. 500, is a dramatic example, "Phillips County, where Elaine is located, is home to about 15,000 people spread across 690 square miles. Data shows they're at high risk of gun violence. From 2016 to 2020, the Phillips County had the country's highest per capita rate of gun homicides, according to an analysis last year by the CAP," Rayasam writes. "During three days in July, police responded to reports of four homicides in Helena-West Helena, the Phillips County seat. That might be a small number for a major city, but it has an outsize impact in a rural town," said Nick Wilson, senior director for gun violence prevention at the Center for American Progress. The sheer number of deaths can devastate communities that often lack resources to stem gun violence or mental health services to help traumatized residents. Also, the nearest medical centers to treat victims are often miles away.

Segregated communities, racism and poverty add to social tensions that can lead to violent outcomes. Phillips County has "a harrowing history of racism," Rayasam reports. "In 1919, Elaine was the site of one of the worst racial massacres in U.S. history. At least 200 Black residents were murdered by white residents and soldiers over a couple of days after a group of Black farmers met one late September evening to demand better payments for their cotton crops." Daniel Webster, a distinguished scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, told Rayasam: "These disadvantages are structural and driven by policy rather than naturally occurring. The conditions that lead to structural racism also lead to higher rates of gun violence. . . . These places have lacked investment, where poverty is rampant, unemployment is high, schools are failing, and buildings are crumbling."

"Under those conditions, even small stressors, like a fight over a cigarette, can lead to a shooting, researchers say. Most homicides in Phillips County, as in urban areas, stem from interpersonal or domestic disputes," Rayasam adds. "A few years ago, a man in Helena shot a man who allegedly stole butter beans from his garden."

Hicks Gilbert, who became Elaine's first Black and female mayor, is working on changing "'the mindset of what is possible,'" Rayasam reports. "She is requiring public housing operators to keep properties up to code, bringing in dumpsters to encourage residents to clean up trash, tearing down dilapidated houses, hiring young people to work in city government and at the community center, and starting a tutoring program." But progress can be slow and "persistent poverty and violence take an emotional toll, said Steven Cannon, a pastor who also runs an after-school community center in West Helena." Cannon told Rayasam, "What you see can be depressing at times, especially on a young generation."

Don't know much about hunting season? Here's your primer.

Bright orange gear is a safety must in the woods.
(Photo by Donna Kallner, The Daily Yonder)

In many rural areas, hunters anxiously await the start of each new season. But for people unfamiliar with tree stands, deer tacos and harvest tags, the entire operation can be bewildering. Below is a condensed primer from Donna Kallner of The Daily Yonder on all things hunting.

It's tradition. If you're a soon-to-be spouse or in-law, don't even think of planning the wedding during the 9-day season in late November called Gun Deer. Many of your guests, as well as the wedding party and possibly the parson, will have standing plans to go to Deer Camp. Deer Camp may be off in the woods, based on an actual structure like a cabin or camper. Or it can be centered at the same kitchen table we use the rest of the year. . . . It's less a place than a state of mind. . . . In many families, this 9-day period is sacrosanct.

There's more. There are seasons for hunting migratory waterfowl, wild turkeys and other game birds, small game like rabbits, large game like bears, and more.

Dress accordingly. When and where it's firearm deer season, it's prudent to have at least 50% percent of your outer clothing above the waist be solid blaze orange or fluorescent pink (or camo-blaze, which is legal but not as visible). You definitely want your hat or other head covering to be at least 50 percent blaze orange or fluorescent pink.

Hunting for food. It may be hard for some to imagine how much rural families rely on hunting for food. That might be easier if they imagine living where incomes are generally lower, and a family's food budget also has to cover fuel to travel more miles to and from a grocery store.

There's a plan. Some hunters will field-dress a deer and take it to a processor to make the transformation from carcass to neatly wrapped and labeled frozen meat. But for people hunting to feed a family, that gets pricey. Instead, many hunters do their own butchering. Often, that's a family affair. One friend's deer camp includes not only hunters but also a team that butchers, preps, and pressure cans the meat, which is then divided among the group. 

Community. Hunters – even solitary, curmudgeonly ones – cherish community. Before it became possible to register harvests online, Deer/Turkey Registration Stations were the place to meet and greet other hunters. . . . Sure, everyone wanted to see the trophy bucks. But the pictures they took also documented many kids' first hunts and their hunts over the years.

Hunter's Ed. Many of the kids pictured in those albums knew our neighbor not just from the gas station but also as their Hunter Safety instructor. . . . A few times, I helped serve lunch on the last day of the course and got to watch as kids tested at some of the stations. Those kids were expected to know everything from the correct type of ammunition for different firearms to the maximum projectile range for different calibers of rifles and shotguns.

Memories. I did not grow up in a hunting household. So when I moved to rural northern Wisconsin, I had much to learn (and still do). But it became clear early on that hunting was about much more than shooting. . . . .I appreciate how hunting connects us to the land we share with this wildlife and with the community of hunters.

Official guidance on gun-safety law upsets rural politicians; Democrat says bureaucrats don't understand rural America

New gun safety law doesn't fund archery programs.
(Photo by Annie Spratt, Unsplash)

In a case of unintended consequences, the first gun-safety legislation in decades is hitting some bumps. "As the law is implemented, a rift has emerged between the Biden administration and rural-state Democrats. They’re at odds over guidance issued by the Department of Education which states that a pot of federal dollars would be prohibited from going to school archery and hunting programs," reports Jennifer Haberkorn of Politico. "It also has agitated Republicans who helped negotiate the gun safety legislation." Both sides say the Education Department is misinterpreting Congress’ intent and the White House is ignoring the issue.

The conflict further separates Democrats, "now cutting at a longtime intraparty divide between Democrats from states with a long heritage of hunting and the more progressive corners of the party that back strict gun control measures," Haberkorn writes. "Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, one of the most vulnerable Democrats in a red state, has introduced a bipartisan bill to restore the funding, which he hopes will be added to a government spending bill. He said the administration 'has this one flat-out wrong' and chastised 'D.C. bureaucrats who don’t understand rural America.'"

Haberkorn reports, "The Education Department has stressed that the law doesn’t prohibit shooting or archery programs from being supported through other sources of funding. . . .  Several Democrats expressed hope that the Education Department would change its tone once lawmakers clarified what their intention was with the bill."

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), one of the chief negotiators on the gun safety bill, "acknowledged the administration is reading the letter of the text correctly but called it an unintended consequence that should be repaired," Haberkorn adds. "He said he hopes bipartisan legislation to repair the language can be included in an upcoming government funding bill."

Young heavy drinkers are more likely to carry handguns

Photo by Tom Def, Unsplash

A young person in rural America who drinks heavily is 43% more likely to carry a handgun in the following year, according to a study conducted in seven states over 15 years and published in The Journal of Rural Health.

The study defined "heavy drinking" as consumption of five or more alcoholic drinks in a row at least once in the two weeks before the question was asked of 2,002 youth, aged 12 to 26, from 12 rural communities in Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Oregon, Utah and Washington. Survey responses were collected annually from 2004 to 2019 starting with children who were in fifth or sixth grade, as part of the university's national Community Youth Development Study (CYDS).

Lead author Alice Ellyson, an acting assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington, told The Rural Blog that no Southern states were included in the study because the Southern communities that participated in the survey consortium that helped develop the CYDS "chose not to continue as part of the community-randomized trial portion where we obtained our data for this study."

The university says, "Recent evidence suggests that rural adolescents may start carrying a handgun earlier and carry with a higher frequency and duration than their urban counterparts. Handgun-carrying is associated with bullying, physical violence, and other risk factors for violence. Understanding youth behaviors associated with carrying a firearm has significant safety implications. In 2020, suicide and homicide were among the leading causes of death among U.S. individuals ages 12-26 years. About 91% of homicides and 52% of suicides among this age group involved a firearm."

Communities That Care is a program for preventing these behaviors and their consequences in rural areas. It has no communities in Southern states, "but they would be very willing for that to change," Ellyson told The Rural Blog.