- Via AL.com: Georgia police used photo of Black man for shooting practice
- Via NPR: Black-owned radio station may lose license over FCC ‘character qualifications’ policy
- Via the Texas Tribune: Inmates are dying in stifling Texas prisons, but the state seldom acknowledges heat as a cause of death.
- Via WaPo: National Geographic lays off its last remaining staff writers.
- Via the NYT: How Migrants Flown to Martha’s Vineyard Came to Call It Home.
- Via Popular Information: US murder rate declines dramatically in 2023 — but you probably haven’t heard about it.
- Via the AP: US adult cigarette smoking rate hits new all-time low.
- And one that I have been sitting on since March via the NYT: The Largest Source of Stolen Guns? Parked Cars. This reminds me of this happening in my old neighborhood. Not only did one of my doofus neighbors leave their gun in their car, but they also didn’t lock the car. The problem here, in my view, is that lax carry rules and general gun culture make this kind of thing more likely. Action movie fantasies are great, but the notion that most people who have guns in their cars will ever need them, let alone use them efficaciously, continues to be farcical.
The Everytown researchers found that a decade ago, less than a quarter of all gun thefts were from cars; in 2020, over half of them were. The researchers say more study is needed to understand the shift, which has occurred as more states have adopted permitless carry laws and messages in gun-industry marketing have encouraged Americans to take their weapons with them for personal protection.
And this is just a chef’s kiss of irony:
In some cities, organized groups of young people have swept through neighborhoods and areas around sports arenas, looking for weapons left under car seats or in unlocked center consoles or glove compartments. Their work is occasionally made easier by motorists who advertise their right to bear arms with car window stickers promoting favored gun brands, or that declare “molon labe” — a defiant message from ancient Sparta, which roughly translates as “come and take them.”
