February 26, 2018

A Quick Summary of Proposals to Reduce Gun Violence

Jeff Malet/NC via ZUMA

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Let’s recap the Republican proposals so far to reduce school gun massacres:

  • Arm teachers with handguns.
  • Turn our schools into hardened bunkers.
  • Stun grenades in every classroom.
  • More police officers patrolling the halls at all times.
  • Deny guns to any teenager accused of mental problems by someone else.
  • Loosen gun laws so that more people in public are armed.

Have I hit the high points? The insanity here is jaw dropping. I could at least respect an argument that says gun rights are so important that it’s worth protecting them even at the price of more mass slaughters. I wouldn’t especially agree, but it’s the kind of argument I might make in some free speech cases. This flat-out lunacy, however, is beyond belief. Do the NRA folks really believe this stuff? Or are they just getting so desperate that they’re willing to toss out anything that might muddy the waters?

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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