What To Know Today
NEW from THE TRACE: Eric Adams tries to thread the needle on policing and community violence intervention. The Democratic candidate for mayor, who is all but certain to become the next leader of America’s biggest city, ran on a pro-police message that disavowed the “defund the police” wing of the Democratic Party and promised to hire hundreds of new officers. But a closer look suggests Adams has an open mind about many of the community violence interventions and root causes solutions to gun violence that those on the progressive left advocate for. Experts say his approach is a “both-and” strategy, rather than a focus solely on more police. “He’s the new style of police candidate, which means he’ll look for those social phenomena that are subject to short term mitigation,” one expert told Chip Brownlee in a preview of an expected Adams administration. “Housing and food are two classic examples. Those are not considered classic public safety issues, but they drive crime.”
California announces $10M for state sheriffs to seize weapons from prohibited purchasers. The state was the first in the country to build a database of people who legally bought guns and later became prohibited from possessing firearms due to serious mental health diagnoses, restraining orders, or charges for violent crime. But a state DOJ list from the beginning of this year shows that the backlog of yet-to-be-recovered guns in the Armed and Prohibited Persons System is longer than ever before, at 24,000 people. A recent CalMatters investigation attributed enforcement failures in part to a lack of awareness by police, as well as judges failing to ensure seizure orders are carried out. The new grants will start being disbursed by the end of the year.
Rural youth, handgun access, and an elevated risk for suicide. Using data from a 2019 school survey conducted at 256 Colorado high schools, researchers found that rural or remote schools were the most likely to have students with both high perceived easy access to guns and high rates of suicidality in the previous year. The researchers write, “Ongoing investment in interventions … to temporarily reduce youth access to firearms when youth are in crisis is a necessary next step for preventing youth suicides.” The investigation was published in JAMA Network Open.
King Soopers shooter declared unfit to stand trial. Prosecutors will get a second chance to prove his competency on Thursday, but initial findings from Colorado state evaluators found that the perpetrator of the March 22 mass shooting in Boulder that claimed 10 lives was “not competent to proceed.” The suspect is facing 54 charges, including 10 counts of murder.
Data Point
4,482 — the number of children 17 or under who have died (1,181) or been injured (3,301) in shootings so far this year. That’s currently at a higher rate than last year, when the total year-end was 5,141 (1,375 deceased; 3,766 injured) — the most since Gun Violence Archive began tracking in 2014. [Gun Violence Archive]
