The Trace

A dark money operation — involving two connected gun rights groups, a D.C. law firm, and a Georgetown professor — aims to strike down gun restrictions through the Supreme Court. The middleman is an undercover cop turned evangelical pastor, who funds this legal attack through anonymous donors. Published in partnership with Mother Jones.

Studying gun violence has never been an easy task.

From 1999 to 2021, Peoria County had the third-highest rate of per capita gun deaths in Illinois. House of Hope, a community-based organization created in 2021, used a public health approach to violence prevention. Why did its partnership with the city fall apart?

Journalists and researchers: Do you need help understanding gun violence in your area or sifting through gun violence data? The Gun Violence Data Hub is ready to assist. Reach out to the help desk with questions, suggestions, or ideas for collaboration:

After a spike in shootings during the pandemic, Philadelphia is poised to enter a new era: The city is on track to have fewer homicides and shootings in 2024 than before COVID. No big city has seen as large a reduction in bloodshed as Philly has.

“If we stop our momentum now, my deep fear and concern is that firearm violence is just going to increase again.”

A model piece of suicide prevention legislation is gaining momentum across the country. “Donna’s Law” lets people temporarily ban themselves from buying guns — and it’s proven one of the few areas of gun policy where Republicans and Democrats can agree.

The Trace is excited to announce the launch of its Gun Violence Data Hub, an initiative created to provide data for newsrooms around the country. Made up of three parts, the site offers a help desk, reference material and resources, and an upcoming data library.

Guns are the leading cause of death for young people in the United States. It’s odd, then, that local chapters of a nationwide health care network for kids raffles off guns as a fundraising tool.

🔊 The first phase of The Trace’s Gun Violence Data Hub just launched! The Hub provides support, resources, and reliable data to newsrooms, researchers, and the public. It features three main tools: ➡️ A Help Desk to field gun violence related inquiries from journalists and researchers ➡️ Resources for newsrooms to bolster their U.S. gun violence knowledge ➡️ And coming soon: An open Data Library of contextualized and well documented datasets Learn more: