Red, Blue, and Brady

Send us Fan Mail On average, 2 million American workers become the victims of workplace violence every year , and that includes gun violence . But what sets workplace gun violence apart from other forms of gun violence? And, what can employers and employees do, to help keep one another safe? To find out, "Red, Blue, and Brady" is launching a  series on gun violence in the workplace. To b...

Send us Fan Mail After a mass shooting at a school, we tend to hear some of the same "solutions" tossed around:  schools should just have one door; buy bulletproof backpacks; arm teachers; and harden schools more broadly. While we know those "solutions" aren't, in fact, solutions to gun violence, they all point to a very serious question: "what can we do to make kids...

Send us Fan Mail Many gun owners across the US report that they store their guns safely. But what does safely, or responsibly storing , a firearm look like? In a study conducted by John Hopkins and Dr. Cassandra Crifasi , Deputy Director of the Center for Gun Violence Prevention and Policy , it was found that less than half of the U.S. gun owners store all their guns safely . So, how can gun viole...

Send us Fan Mail We lose over 40,000 Americans every year to gun violence, and their loss is felt by thousands more . Millions more are injured, or living, with gun violence injuries . Folks who have been thus inducted into this terrible US club of gun violence survivorship have taken up the mantle of fighting for gun violence prevention, hoping to protect others from experiencing the pain they li...

Send us Fan Mail When it comes to intimate partner violence, the presence of firearms is deadly. Horrifically, more than one in four homicides in the United States are related to domestic violence. The passing of the bipartisan Safer Communities Act is a massive step forward in addressing gun violence within intimate partner violence, but as guest Rachel Graber (Director of Public Policy, National...

Send us Fan Mail Last week the Supreme Court, in the case of New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen , struck down New York's previously existing restrictive firearms licensing law. In his decision, Justice Clarence Thomas made the case that Americans have a two-part right to “keep” guns in their homes and “bear” them in public. This decision has left many Americans with a lot...

Send us Fan Mail It had been almost 30 years since the Senate has passed gun safety legislation , until Thursday night, when the U.S. Senate passed the Safer Communities Act . The bill addresses issues like the so-called “boyfriend loophole," creates new requirements for FFLs (federal firearm licensee) designations, a mechanism to ensure that individuals who exhibited signs of dangerousness a...

Send us Fan Mail On the 12th, 20 Senators announced a bipartisan proposal to pass lifesaving gun violence prevention policies. This proposed framework is a historic achievement and leaves the Senate with a roadmap to pass the most comprehensive gun violence prevention policies in almost 30 years , since the Brady Bill established the Brady background check system . The proposed bill contains point...

Send us Fan Mail The day before we gathered to lay out 2,280 schoolbooks and broken pencils* before the U.S. Capitol (each one representing the 2,280 children that have been killed by gun violence since the Senate refused to bring a vote on background checks), and two days prior to the 2 022 March for Our Lives , host JJ was joined in the Brady offices by Christian Heyne ( Vice President of Policy...

Send us Fan Mail Like a lot of folks, Matt Gordon began his Tiktok account " usmcangryveteran " during Covid-19 lockdowns. He quickly became known for his witty yet detailed explanations of current events, and as his popularity grew, so too did his commitment to fighting for social justice by educating his audience and uplifting other creators from impacted communities. Particularly stri...

Send us Fan Mail As we’ve seen another week pass in the US, that mass shootings have continued – from grocery stores, to schools, to hospitals, to even cemeteries.  After these mass shootings that gain national attention, a lot of questions come up in public conversation. Some of those questions posit that gun violence prevention methods aren’t the answer – that gun violence is a product of poor m...

Send us Fan Mail A church. A grocery store. A school. In the last 14 days, the nation has seen a number of high-profile shootings, all the while "every day" gun violence continued in communities across the US. If you're scared, angry, frustrated, or even just numb, hosts Kelly and JJ understand — they feel the same way. To discuss the shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde ,  and ways to r...

Send us Fan Mail Mike and   Kristin Song 's beloved son, Ethan, was only 15 when he was killed with a friend's father's unsecured firearm. Since that terrible day in 2018, Mike and Kristin have been fighting to protect other children like Ethan from gun violence with their organization Song Strong .  They've been successful in spreading the passage of Ethan's Law , a bill...

Send us Fan Mail More than 81.4 million Americans own guns , and while we hope that those firearms are all stored securely locked, unloaded, and separate from ammunition , we sadly know that isn't the case . But how can gun violence prevention originations —and ordinary people— best talk to those in their lives about mental health and safe storage? Today, hosts Kelly and JJ are joined by an e...

Send us Fan Mail In a brand new study in the Washington Post , the paper found that at least 41 American children lose at least one biological parent to gun violence a day.  Pulitzer-finalist journalist and author John Woodrow Cox did a deep dive into the lives of some of those children left behind, including siblings Kaleigh (7) and Kavon (11), in his latest piece, "Orphaned by gun violence:...

Send us Fan Mail 38 states in the US now have "Stand Your Ground Laws," s tatutes that allow  anyone who believes their life to be in danger to use lethal force in an act of self-defense,  removing the duty to retreat in a public space. For example, since 2005, in 57% of Florida Stand Your Ground cases there was “clear evidence that the person who claimed that Stand-Your Ground could hav...

Send us Fan Mail One thing we all have in common: we're afraid. And that fear can keep us from talking about hard, important things, as if not speaking on it will somehow protect us. S adly, that's not the case, especially when it comes to gun violence. A possible solution to gun violence may be coming at the issue from a harm reduction perspective , which requires meeting people where t...

Send us Fan Mail We know that gun violence truly is intersectional , touching every part of American life. And in turn, so much of the world impacts gun violence. Included in that reciprocal relationship is climate, or more specifically, climate change and global warming. Studies suggest that climate change can worsen gun violence rates , yet initiatives to fight gun violence via fighting climate...

Send us Fan Mail This March, one man was accused of shooting five unhoused men in Washington DC and New York city over the course of a month. While the suspect in that case is now in custody, the national attention from the case led many – us included – to ask a question: “how does gun violence specifically impact unhoused people? ” The answer: "in many varied, and terrible, ways."  To d...

Send us Fan Mail Daniel “Bud” Williams was only 16 when he was shot outside his home in Buffalo, NY, in August of 2003. The handgun used to severely wound the high school basketball star was traced to a gunrunner, who had purchased over 250 guns at a Dayton, Ohio gun show in a mere 6 months. Almost 100 of those weapons – mostly “ Saturday night special” handguns – had been purchased from a single...

Send us Fan Mail On November 6th, 2015, a gun was acquired illegally via straw purchase. On November 7th, 2015, Donald Rice (75) and his wife Ladonna (71), were shot and killed with that gun , during a home robbery. The assailants then set fire to the Rices' home in an attempt to cover up their crime. Miles away from Midway, Arkansas, Judy and Bill Miller, got a terrifying call. Judy, Don&apo...

Send us Fan Mail In 2002, two shooters killed 17 people and injured 9 during a nine-month rampage across the country. Ten of those killings, and three woundings, occurred over just three weeks in areas around Washington, DC, which is why these horrific events have since been called the Beltway Sniper or DC Sniper attacks.  After the shooters were caught, law enforcement discovered that the perpetr...

Send us Fan Mail Rachel Renee Duncan was a kindhearted, talented 25-year-old. Close with her family and beloved by her friends, her death in March of 2018 devastated her loved ones and community. Her murder, at the hands of an ex-boyfriend, should have never happened. Rachel had filed for, and received, a personal protection order that prohibited the shooter from purchasing or possessing firearms....

Send us Fan Mail Like other forms of intimate partner violence , teen dating violence encompasses a wide range of abusive behavior, from physical violence to emotional abuse to sexual coercion. A 2019 study found that nearly 1.5 million young adults and teens in the US – that's one out of three young people – have experienced an abusive relationship before reaching adulthood. Access to firear...

Send us Fan Mail As a young man growing up in rural Kansas, Ryan Busse grew up with guns. An avid hunter and environmentalist, h e was thrilled when he got a position with the firearms manufacturer Kimber America  — which for him, "was like a kid who loved baseball getting called up into the majors." Yet, decades later, h e would leave the business he once loved after becoming disillusio...