Will Van Sant

Trump’s Big Crime Lies As the president prepares to send federal troops into Memphis and Chicago, we debunk a few of his most mendacious talking points.

Given yesterday's call to use American cities as military training grounds, sharing this debunking of Trump's crime claims and related @thetrace.org coverage put together by my colleague @jenmascia.bsky.social

www.thetrace.org/2025/09/trum...

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Make a gift to help The Trace inform more people about an issue that affects all of us: thetrace.fundjournalism.org?campaign=701...

How Maine's rates of gun suicide compare to national trends More older Mainers died by gun suicide than in car crashes over a 15-year period, data that mirrors a troubling trend across the country.

Sobering story from @themainemonitor.org on the high rates of gun suicides among older Mainers.

They're the first newsroom to use a new Gun Violence Data Hub dataset to localize a story on this subject.
themainemonitor.org/maine-suicid...

Trump’s Big Crime Lies As the president prepares to send federal troops into Memphis and Chicago, we debunk a few of his most mendacious talking points.

Trump talks about crime a lot. And much of what he says is false. @jenmascia.bsky.social breaks it down here
www.thetrace.org/2025/09/trum...

Roth speaks to 2015 and homicide, certainly a grand theory:

www.hfg.org/wp-content/u...

Buying a Gun Is About to Get More Complicated for Nonbinary People The ATF has told The Trace that the federal background check form for gun sales is being revised to recognize only two sexes.

NEWS: In 2020, the ATF added nonbinary as a sex choice on the federal background check form for gun sales. Now, the agency says the form is being modified to comply with Trump's order declaring male and female immutable categories.

www.thetrace.org/2025/09/gun-...

The Quiet Crisis: What’s Driving Gun Suicides Among Older Americans? More and more older Americans are dying by firearm suicide, a new analysis from The Trace and GQ reveals. Older white men and those in rural areas experience alarmingly high rates.

Suicide among older men, particularly white men, is rising. Reporter amendelson.bsky.social goes deep and delivers illuminating details, like a gun store owner catching heat for trying to boost suicide awareness. Check it out:

www.thetrace.org/2025/09/gun-...

Trump Says Chicago Is Crime-Ridden. But Shootings Are Down 50 Percent Since His First Term. Chicagoans interviewed by The Trace say they’ve been feeling safer in their neighborhoods — and do not want intervention from ICE or the National Guard.

Rita Oceguera keeps a spotlight on disinfo for @thetrace.org

www.thetrace.org/2025/09/chic...

This Midwestern County's Divergent Gun Violence Patterns Reflect a Broader American Reality In Washtenaw County, Michigan, social workers and community violence specialists are responding differently, if simultaneously, to gun suicides and homicides.

Race and geography divide gun deaths in Washtenaw County, MI, reflecting a national pattern. More fine work by @josiahbates.bsky.social in @thetrace.org

www.thetrace.org/2025/09/wash...

Roundup: One month of authoritarianism. Plus: Obama cites The Watch! (sort of) Here's what happened in just one month of the Trump administration's dizzying push toward autocracy

This sweeping overview by @radleybalko.bsky.social on the Trump administration's expansion of federal power is worth your time. Nothing but facts and context in here

More Than 20 Active Shooting Hoaxes Have Locked Down Colleges Over the Past Two Weeks Experts said swatting incidents can traumatize students and first responders.

In just two weeks, more than 20 U.S. colleges received false active shooter reports, triggering lockdowns and heavy police responses. These swatting incidents may be fake, but the fear and trauma they create are real.

Strong reporting from @jenmascia.bsky.social

Most of the states backing Trump’s crime crackdown have areas with higher gun homicide rates than the nation’s capital, a Trace analysis shows.

At least 17 Mississippi counties endured more gun homicides per capita than the nation’s capital in 2024.

Read: www.thetrace.org/2025/08/nati...

Opinion | Trump Is Building His Own Paramilitary Force

Of course, paths other than federalizing city police forces are being pursued...

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/o...

Legal Constraints Could Stymie Trump’s Plans to Police Other Cities We spoke with a policing expert from Yale Law School about whether a federal takeover could come to New York or Chicago.

In a Q&A with a law and policing expert, @jenmascia.bsky.social explores limits to further crackdowns in Democratic cities that have opposed Trump.

www.thetrace.org/2025/08/trum...

"The ongoing dispute exposed a foundational fracture in the city’s community violence intervention efforts. … That structural shift, according to several local activists, marked the beginning of a more top-down, enforcement-driven approach."

They Rallied the Nation After the Parkland School Shooting. Years Later, Their Group Is Floundering. The gun reform group has been rocked by divisions, layoffs, and — most recently — a lawsuit alleging racism and retaliation.

March for Our Lives, an important youth mobilizer, has hit hard times. Quite hard. Details in my latest story:

www.thetrace.org/2025/08/marc...

The Data Doesn’t Support Trump’s Justification for Deploying the National Guard Trump has taken over policing in D.C. and threatened to do the same in other cities. A Trace analysis shows that his claims of runaway violence are false.

Trump claimed the nation’s capital has been “taken over by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals.” But crime in D.C. and other cities he's targeted is not out of control — in fact, it’s decreasing. Below, we fact-check his claims.

What’s Behind the Decline in Pro-Gun Lawsuits? While filing fewer lawsuits against gun restrictions, gun rights groups are still touting their litigation efforts to rally supporters — and raise money.

After capitalizing on a favorable 2022 Supreme Court ruling, gun rights groups are filing far fewer new legal challenges to firearms restrictions in federal court. But they have lots of irons in the fire at the federal appellate level.

www.thetrace.org/2025/06/gun-...

Trump's War on Law Firms May Imperil Gun Suits After the president sought to punish Paul Weiss, references to its work on firearms disappeared from its website. Gun safety advocates fear a retreat.

www.thetrace.org/2025/04/paul...

If you're a current or former federal employee who works on gun violence prevention, data collection, or research, I would love to hear from you.

Protonmail:
chip.c.brownlee@protonmail.com

Signal:
byChipBrownlee.01

Keybase:
keybase.io/chip_brownlee

The Secret Plan to Strike Down U.S. Gun Laws For decades, McLean Bible Church has served as the place of worship for many of Washington, D.C.’s Republican elite. The sprawling evangelical megachurch in Vienna, Virginia, boasts a roster of former...

Here's an update to some deep digging published with @motherjones.com over the summer. Millions more in anonymous cash was spent on the operation in 2023.

www.thetrace.org/2025/01/gun-...

Stand up for truth and safety. Your gift to The Trace will ensure that gun violence is never ignored. Donate today to have your impact doubled during our NewsMatch campaign: https://thetrace.fundjournalism.org/?campaign=701Pd00000JvJ7tIAF

Jury Finds the NRA, Wayne LaPierre Liable in Corruption Case A jury has found the National Rifle Association and its recently departed CEO, Wayne LaPierre, liable in a civil corruption case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James. Jurors ordered LaPi...

www.thetrace.org/2024/02/nra-...

A jury has reached a verdict in the NY AG's lawsuit against the NRA and its former CEO Wayne LaPierre. More to come.

Jury Weighs Thorny NRA Corruption Charges A jury in a Manhattan courthouse began deliberating February 16 in the New York Attorney General’s civil fraud case against the National Rifle Association and its former boss, Wayne LaPierre. The morn...

The NY AG's case against the NRA is now with the jury.

The IRS May Have Investigated the NRA, Document Suggests. What Happened? Midway through week two of the National Rifle Association’s ongoing civil corruption trial in Manhattan last month, a defense attorney asked the organization’s chief financial officer whether the NRA had ever received “an inquiry from the IRS” about its annual tax filing. “Yes,” answered Sonya Rowling, who joined the NRA in 1999 and became CFO […]

NEW: Details have been scarce since the IRS claimed during the NRA’s failed 2021 bankruptcy that the gun group owed it money — following an October 2020 report that the agency was investigating CEO Wayne LaPierre.

A previously unreported document may provide clues, @vansant.bsky.social writes.

Wayne LaPierre's attorney wants to limit his client's time testifying on days LaPierre is fatigued. In addition to the already disclosed Lyme, a doctor's note the attorney provided cites "cognitive decline ... in a setting of a family history of Alzheimer's ... and significant cerebral volume loss"

New Recording Shows NRA Treasurer Plotting to Conceal Extravagant Expenses Involving Wayne LaPierre At a meeting in June 2009, the treasurer of the National Rifle Association worked out a plan to conceal luxury expenses involving its chief executive, Wayne LaPierre, according to audio of the meeting...

In June 2009, the NRA’s treasurer enlisted the group’s longtime PR firm to obfuscate executives’ extravagant spending.

We obtained a secret audio recording of that meeting.

In partnership with @propublica.bsky.social:

The NRA Is Headed to Trial and Its CEO Just Resigned. What Could That Mean For the Organization? A Manhattan jury is expected to begin hearing New York Attorney General Letitia James’s case against the National Rifle Association on January 8, three and a half years after she filed a lawsuit aga...

Our staff writer @vansant.bsky.social previewed the NRA's corruption trial and its stakes below — and will continue to follow the case in the coming weeks.

For regular updates: TheTrace.org/Newsletters

Chronic Lyme disease is the condition behind Wayne LaPierre's decision to resign, per an NRA filing in the NY AG's case, which goes to trial today. Also, the group is arguing that his exodus undercuts claims that NRA illegality is "continuing or imminently likely to recur."