It's the Brady Briefing, another time where JJ casts alone on everything from university studies to the FBI to an underserved population, in this, a weekly wrap up on gun violence and gun violence prevention for the week of November 22nd to November 29th.
Today in this wrap-up, you'll learn about:
a new medical study that shows the ripple effects of gun violence;
the FBI dealing with an increase in background checks;
a billionaire running for President;
the ongoing issue of “ghost guns”;
the continuing lack of resources available to native populations battling gun violence.
It's the Brady Briefing, another time where JJ casts alone on everything from university studies to the FBI to an underserved population, in this, a weekly wrap up on gun violence and gun violence prevention for the week of November 22nd to November 29th.
Today in this wrap-up, you'll learn about:
a new medical study that shows the ripple effects of gun violence;
the FBI dealing with an increase in background checks;
a billionaire running for President;
the ongoing issue of “ghost guns”;
the continuing lack of resources available to native populations battling gun violence.
Hey everybody. This is the legal disclaimer where I tell you that the views, thoughts, and opinions shared on this podcast belong solely to the person talking, which in this case is me, and not necessarily Brady or Brady's affiliates. Please note that this podcast does contain discussions of violence that some people may find disturbing. It's okay. We find it disturbing, too.
Brady music:
*** music plays*** Welcome back to "Red, Blue, and Brady," and in today's weekly wrap up we're covering a new medical study that shows the ripple effects of gun violence, the FBI is dealing with an increase in background checks, a billionaire is running for president, well two now, but we're talking about just one, the ongoing issue of ghost guns, and even what those are, and a note on a population that frequently suffers from gun violence but doesn't capture headlines. So, you know how this goes. We're going to jump right into it.
:
First things first, there's a new study by the University of Pennsylvania that maintains that gun violence causes most survivors lasting harm and that that harm extends beyond what bullets can initially do to their bodies. We've talked about this on the podcast before, but this is sort of a quantifiable proof of that narrative. The study looked at almost 200 adults , survivors of gun violence in Philadelphia, and it found that nearly half of those screen positive for likely post traumatic stress disorder, that's PTSD, several years after they were shot. And that many of those folks also had higher rates of unemployment and drug or alcohol use then before they were injured. Let's just underscore this, right? Gun violence cannot be discussed without acknowledging the repercussions that it has on the mental health of survivors, on their families and friends, on their communities. And honestly on the psyche of the country as a whole. Gun violence impacts nearly everyone. And here at Brady we're determined to raise awareness and light to the mental health impacts of this violence. So if this study has you concerned and you want to support survivors of gun violence, there are ways to do that, right? You can be mindful that traumatic events cause emotional distress , um , particularly to survivors who are living in working in impacted areas. The loved ones of victims, first responders, recovery workers. It's crucial that we remember the importance of checking in, checking up, and checking often to support people who may be in distress.
Brady music:
This is especially true, I think, around the holidays or unfortunately almost every day now, when we see a major shooting in the news, which might be really triggering for some people. Now despite all of those in the news, people are still buying guns in record numbers, but in good news, a huge number of people are doing that legally. So the FBI is handling a surge in background checks this year. Well the FBI doesn't track gun sales and multiple firearms can be purchased in a single transaction, which is something actually I didn't know. I thought you had to do different transactions for each one, but no , you can buy in bulk. The FBI's national incident criminal background check system, what we sometimes call NICs, a way to sort of gauge market demand, and for the first time since the Bureau began conducting checks in 1998 the number of monthly checks has not fallen below 200,000 a month in 2019. That's huge. Black Friday now traditionally has been one of the busiest days for gun dealers and for the NIC system that determines whether a prospective buyer is a prohibited purchaser or not. Two years ago, the FBI was flooded with a record, a 200,000 plus background checks the day after Thanksgiving, which was a single day record, and it looks like that record may be broken this year based on the fact that people are buying more guns every single month. Now, here's why this isn't a gun violence prevention wrap-up podcast, right? This is really good. The problem isn't necessarily people buying guns. It's the problem of people not buying guns properly, not going through a background check system. So the fact that people are engaging with the background check system the way they should. This is great. Hats off to every reputable gun dealer who follows the rules and does this.
JJ:
Continuing maybe in the vein of business news, the former New York mayor, Michael Bloomberg, I think as everyone already knows now, has declared publicly that he's going to be running for president. He has I think one big asset beyond the money, beyond his fame, which is that he has worked in gun violence prevention for a while . Bloomberg is the founder of Everytown, and then it's volunteer organization Moms Demand Action, which is a huge gun violence prevention organization operating here. So it's a huge deal that Bloomberg is a supporter of common sense gun laws and in the race. But in troubling news it has been confirmed that the 16 year old boy who fatally shot two students and wounded three others last week at Sagas High School used an unregistered, untraceable "ghost gun". Now I'm putting "ghost gun" in air quotes here. You can't see that because this isn't a visual medium, but work with me here. Okay, so the shooter's .45 caliber 1911 model replica semiautomatic pistol was assembled from gun parts and did not have a serial number. So a ghost gun is a term used to describe a firearm that's been made by someone that doesn't have a serial number. It doesn't have any identification markings. And increasingly these guns are made where people purchase gun kits and then assemble them at home. These weapons are a growing problem for law enforcement around the country, understandably because the parts are easy to obtain and the guns take really limited expertise to build. I n Southern California alone, federal authorities have said that one third of all firearms seized are themselves ghost guns. This method of buying these kits and stuff online, it allows the purchaser who can be, as was in this case, a minor or another person prohibited from owning firearms to avoid the background check system required to purchase a readymade gun. Now, hobbyists have sort of always used spare parts to create firearms. There's a whole community of folks online who do that. But internet purchasing has made it much easier for people to build a deadly weapon and that is really, really dangerous. Finally, this week we really wanted to call your attention to a community that's not often discussed in relation to gun violence, but absolutely should be. Native communities have the highest rates of fatal police encounters. A 2014 study by the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice reported that per capita native Americans are more likely to be killed by police than any other demographic. In the US in addition, gun violence and native communities comes along with one of the country's highest rates of death by suicide. For example, in 2014 alone on the Pine Ridge reservation, South Dakota, more than a hundred people ages 12 to 24 killed or attempted to kill themselves within a span of a few months. Think about that for a minute. More than a hundred people in a few months. Today, Pine Ridge still has a rate of death by suicide that is 150% higher than the national U S average. So as you visit friends and relatives over the holidays and they intern visit you, be mindful now of those who weren't with us because of gun violence, which does include suicide. Be mindful about safe storage of your firearms and ask those if you are visiting, if there's guns in their home and how they can be stored. You know, an unlocked and loaded weapon can turn any family gathering into a tragedy as can easy access to weapons for those who might be having a difficult time this holiday season. It's in our hands to keep those around us safe. And as you visit those you love, please remember again, there are empty chairs at tables across the country. Let's honor them by taking action and preventing more loss
Brady music:
***music plays***
JJ:
Thanks for listening. As always, Brady's lifesaving work in Congress, the courts, and communities across the country is made possible thanks to you and for a very special holiday ask. Tuesday, December 3rd is giving Tuesday, and I hope you'll think of Brady and make a gift by going to Brady united.org/pod cash . You heard right cash not cast. Thank you all so much. Be brave and remember, take action, not sides.