By a Biometrica staffer By now, most of us have probably read that on Tuesday, June 21, Senate bargainers reached agreement on an incremental yet necessary bipartisan gun violence bill. The bill is in response to recent deadly mass shootings in Texas and New York and aims at curbing gun violence. While some critics of the bill have pointed out that it does not have any “game changing” steps, it does make it tougher to buy firearms for some young buyers and those considered a threat to themselves or others. The bill also tries to address concerns of school safety, which is still firmly on the m ..read more

By a Biometrica staffer Earlier this year, in April, eight people were killed by a 19-year-old at a FedEx facility in Indiana. The shooter’s mother had reported to police over a year earlier, in March 2020, that her son had confided to her that he would attempt “suicide by cop.” As a result, CNN reported at the time of the shooting, a shotgun found at his home was seized, but the eventual shooter was still allowed to legally purchase the assault rifles he would use to carry out his rampage only four months later. When this detail emerged, it raised questions about whether background checks wer ..read more

By a Biometrica staffer Two reports released recently draw attention to a mental health crisis plaguing schools and students in the U.S. One is an advisory issued by the Surgeon General, which warns that “symptoms of anxiety, depression and other mental health disorders among young people have increased since the beginning of the pandemic.” A separate report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that was compiled upon request by a congressional committee found that, in the two school years between 2015 and 2018, “hostile behaviors” in K–12 public schools rose sharply. According to th ..read more

By Aara Ramesh When it comes to gun rights, one demographic proponents of gun control are particularly concerned about is children that live in homes that also have firearms. While the presence of a firearm in the house can be dangerous to anyone, children are, of course, particularly susceptible to injury or death related to one. Not even counting injuries, per some estimates, around 1,300 children die from firearm-related causes annually. The most common method of firearm-related injury or death involving children is accidental or unintentional shootings. That is, children come across or are ..read more

By a Biometrica staffer The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced more than $139 million in grant funding through the department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) COPS Hiring Program (CHP). The awards provide direct funding to 183 law enforcement agencies across the nation, allowing those agencies to hire 1,066 additional full-time law enforcement professionals, the DOJ said. “The grants we are announcing today will enable law enforcement agencies across the country to hire more than 1,000 additional officers to support vitally important community oriented policing ..read more

By a Biometrica staffer A drive-by shooting around 1 pm on Monday, Nov. 15,  in Aurora, Colorado, has left six teenagers (four boys and two girls between the ages of 14 and 18) injured, according to police. The incident occurred at the suburban Nome Park near Aurora Central High School, which all the victims attended. According to police,  multiple rounds from different guns were found at the scene, and it’s possible that one suspect was on foot. The first to arrive on the scene were the police who were assigned to the school. They applied a tourniquet on one victim, who then underwe ..read more

By a Biometrica staffer Casino news from the weekend includes reports of shootings and other crimes on properties, and a cyber crime warning. On Saturday, Nov. 6, a shooter fatally wounded two people before turning the gun on himself at Stateline Casino in Bainville, Montana. In Nevada, an intoxicated man allegedly broke a light fixture on a slot machine and threatened staff at a Carson City gaming property. Meanwhile, late last week, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Cyber Crime Division warned tribal casino owners to be on high alert for ransomware attacks. Finally, also connected ..read more

By a Biometrica staffer Yesterday, Nov. 3, the Biden Administration announced a set of three actions it will take to help prevent suicide by use of firearms, in an effort to curb one key aspect of the broader gun violence epidemic the country is facing. Per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), gun violence is among the leading causes of death for people of all ages in the U.S. While homicides and other violent crimes have increased in recent months, suicide has long been the most common outcome of gun violence, reports say. While homicides and mass shootings tend to make the n ..read more

By a Biometrica staffer In 2018, there were around 1.6 million applications for firearm transfers and permits that were subject to background checks under the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (Brady Act). About 230,000 (1.4%) of these applications were denied, the Bureau of Justice Statistics said in a recent report. That’s a 11% decrease from 2016’s peak of 19.2 million applicants. From the time that the Brady Act went into effect in 1994 to 2018, over 250 million applications were subject to background checks and nearly 3.8 million applications (1.5%) were denied. Findings in the report ..read more

By Aara Ramesh It’s not uncommon these days, unfortunately, to see stories of children or toddlers coming upon an unsecured firearm at home and accidentally setting it off. Research from the Gun Violence Archive and the Associated Press found that gun violence has steadily been claiming the lives of, or injuring, an increasing number of American children and teenagers over the years, with that trend continuing strong thus far in 2021 as well. For instance, in August, Shamaya Lynn, 21, was accidentally shot and killed in Florida by her toddler while she was on a Zoom call for work. The child ha ..read more