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I’m always fascinated by the stories we tell ourselves about why gun violence persists, especially here in Chicago. Like much of the United States, the city has experienced an uptick in gun violence amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. As they have frequently done in the past, Chicago’s police and city officials have placed much of the blame on gangs. “We have a common enemy: It’s the guns and the gangs,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot offered after the recent fatal shooting of a police officer.

But how conclusive is that supposed link? To find out, I analyzed shooting incident data compiled by the police over the past decade. With the help of my colleague Daniel Nass, I found that police haven’t attributed as many shootings to gangs as the public might think based on City Hall’s narrative. Of the nearly 34,000 shootings in the past decade, police labeled less than 3 in 10 as gang-related.

But data only tells part of the story. So I spent most of this month talking to people with direct experience, most notably current and former gang and clique-affiliated residents. Narratives about crime are often one-sided — driven by politicians and police, or only reflecting the opinions of experts removed from relevant experience — and I wanted to hear directly from the people involved in gun violence why that was. The data I found, and what nearly 30 residents of various backgrounds shared with me, is in my latest and final story for The Trace, published in partnership with Injustice Watch. You can read it here.

We found that the factors driving violence in Chicago are much more varied and nuanced than the prevailing narrative would suggest. “Violence comes from frustration, from anger, from not having the rent, or not having food,” said one man I spoke with. “Until we address those issues, I think sometimes it’s easier just to say it is a gang problem.”

You’ll notice that our story does not include any photos, nor does it name people actively involved in cliques. We also spoke to a police officer whom we do not name in the story. We didn’t make these decisions lightly. Ultimately, our role as journalists is not only to discover the story, but to protect the people who risk legal or professional consequences by speaking with us.

It’s with this trust that we’re able to tell authentic stories about the complex reasons gun violence remains a problem in cities like Chicago.

I hope you’ll give the story a read. Once you do, feel free to share your thoughts with me on Twitter @lakeidrachavis. And thanks again for reading my work in the past year and a half at The Trace. — Lakeidra Chavis, former Chicago reporter
WHAT TO KNOW THIS WEEK

After decades of scant public comment from the CDC, the agency's director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky vowed to go all in on gun violence research. "We haven't spent the time, energy, and frankly the resources to understand this problem because it's been so divided,” she said in an interview with CNN. Context: Between 2004 and 2015, gun violence research received 0.7 percent as much funding as research on sepsis, which killed about the same number of people. In 2019, Congress appropriated money for gun violence research for the first time since the 1990s.

The bankrupt gunmaker Remington subpoenaed school records of five children and four teachers killed at Sandy Hook. It’s part of the yearslong legal case that nine families brought against the company for deceptive marketing of the Bushmaster AR-15 used in the 2012 shooting. In a response to the request, a lawyer for families asked that their records be sealed: “The plaintiffs do not understand why Remington would invade the families’ privacy with such a request.”

ATF agents in Phoenix and Detroit will be the first federal officers to start wearing body cameras under new Justice Department policy for the ATF, DEA, FBI, and the Marshals Service. “Law enforcement is at its most effective when there is accountability and trust between law enforcement and the community,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said.

Americans bought an estimated 1.53 million guns last month, according to our analysis of FBI data. That's down 23 percent from the previous August, but still one of the highest months on record.

Shootings rocked two North Carolina high schools in three days: A student died after an incident at Mount Tabor High School in Winston-Salem on Wednesday afternoon; two days earlier, a student at New Hanover High School in Wilmington opened fire, wounding a classmate.

The number of unintentional shooting deaths resulting from shootings by children was 31 percent higher from March through December 2020 than the same period in 2019, according to new data from Everytown for Gun Safety. [Everytown provides grants to The Trace through its nonpolitical arm. Here's our list of major donors and our policy on editorial independence.]

Texas’s permitless carry law took effect, making it the 21st state to allow residents to carry guns without permits or training.

The North Carolina governor vetoed a bill to eliminate the state’s permit requirement for pistol purchases.

The Dream Keeper Fellowship, which launches next month in San Francisco, will pair 10 people deemed to be at a high risk of being involved in gun violence with life coaches and provide them a baseline of $300 per month as an inducement to avoid crime. The program is similar to the Advance Peace model, which was recently unveiled in New York City.

National Suicide Prevention Week starts Sunday and runs through next Saturday. Guns play a big role in suicide in the U.S.: More than two-thirds of all gun deaths are self-inflicted. [If you are having thoughts of suicide, help is available 24 hours a day: Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or text 741741 to reach the Crisis Text Line.]
FROM OUR TEAM

What’s needed to help survivors — and their communities — heal from gun violence. Chicagoans share what they need to heal from gun violence. Partnering with WBEZ's Reset, we hosted a follow-up discussion to the Aftershocks series on people who survive gun violence. Guests included a teacher whose student was fatally shot, a trauma surgeon on the front lines of physical recovery, and a violence prevention advocate who tries to stop shootings before they happen. "Violence is not just someone picking up a gun," said Lee Jenkins, who was shot at 17. “Gun violence doesn’t happen in a vacuum — we must address the racism, poverty, homelessness, school closings and lack of resources in our community if we truly want to help survivors.”
IN MEMORIAM

Lorvens Florestal Jr., 19, a football player at Charleston Southern University in South Carolina, was fatally shot near an off-campus residence on August 29. Two others were injured. Florestal was from Delray Beach, Florida, and had just begun his freshman year. He was a defensive end but didn’t get a chance to play before he was killed, the school said. Florestal’s parents emigrated from Haiti in search of a better life for him and his younger sister, and his coaches said his dream was to work hard and repay them for their sacrifice. Tavarius Jackson, who coached the teen in both high school and college, said he was a mentor to kids in his hometown, and spoke to kids in elementary schools and nonprofits: “Lorvens was a kid that no matter what someone else was going through or what he was going through, if it was his last of anything, he’d give it to you.” A coach at Atlantic High School, where Florestal was a star player, praised his work ethic and drive, adding, “He really impacted a lot of the kids around him.” Witnesses to the shooting say Florestal was a bystander.
PULL QUOTE

“Saying the word 'gang' makes the victim less sympathetic. It creates an 'other.' The reality is, gang members are also neighbors, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, [and], employees."

— Andrew Papachristos, a professor and researcher at Northwestern University who studies Chicago’s gang networks, to The Trace.
The Weekly Briefing is compiled by Tom Kutsch and Jennifer Mascia.

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Blacks are going to be in for a grand surprise to find out it was never whitey , or America and has always been their own black leaders that kept them in poverty. Keeping their own on the plantation gives cause for trillions of subsidies to launder .
Wasnt it the baltimore mayor that died a VERY RICH person while there is nothing but death and despair in Baltimore. They make millions , billions by killing their own. MLK was quoted as saying he feared he was throwing his people into a burning building. Margeret Sanger did not use machine guns and soldiers to go into the hoods to kill black babies. The black leaders invited her in for the pay out. The whole racism thing in America has been a head fake to fleece America of trillions and a political tool of the commies. you will always find racist of all colors, polarizing just one group for your agenda is just evil. There was a time in America when ALL races of people were hung from trees.

On the money, sir.

Damn strait man!!!

Good stuff