Will Van Sant
@vansant.bsky.social
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Reporter for The Trace, covering the gun lobby. Email:
[email protected]
,
[email protected]
.
reposted by
Will Van Sant
Josiah Bates
5 days ago
My latest for
@thetrace.org
challenges a common narrative. That gun violence “starts in the home”. Adlone Morris was a Detroit cop and a devoted father. Still, his sons got caught up in the streets he patrolled. Their story highlights the complexities of gun violence that are often ignored [1]
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He Patrolled the Neighborhoods Where His Sons Were Drawn into Violence
Despite Adlone Morris's best attempts, he couldn't keep his sons from joining a gang as teenagers. Now they all work to make Detroit safer.
https://www.thetrace.org/2025/11/detroit-street-gang-police-adlone-morris/
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Here's a nice
@tedalcorn.bsky.social
piece on the rise in folks aspiring to be legal gun toters in NYC for
@thetrace.org
. Can confirm his observation that in the past, "permits were largely held by business leaders, politicians, and celebrities."
www.thetrace.org/2025/11/new-...
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New Yorkers Fill Gun Classes as Applications for Concealed Carry Permits Surge
With few rules on how the courses are taught, gun aficionados have stepped in to run them.
https://www.thetrace.org/2025/11/new-york-concealed-carry-gun-classes/
5 days ago
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reposted by
Will Van Sant
11 days ago
The group that represents the interests of the gun industry has won accolades for trying to raise awareness about suicide, the leading cause of gun death. But it uses deceptive numbers to promote its efforts.
add a skeleton here at some point
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reposted by
Will Van Sant
Fairriona Magee
12 days ago
A New JAMA Report led by veteran gun violence prevention researchers explores the ways to significantly reduce gun violence in the next 15 years:
www.thetrace.org/2025/11/how-...
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A Blueprint for Reducing Gun Violence by 2040, According to Experts
The JAMA Summit on Firearm Violence convened thought leaders from a wide array of disciplines to discuss ideas for preventing shooting deaths and injuries.
https://www.thetrace.org/2025/11/how-to-reduce-gun-violence-2040-jama/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin&utm_campaign=trace-branded&utm_content=edit-promo
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Maine voters yesterday overwhelmingly approved a "red flag" measure that allows courts to temporarily take weapons from those found to be a danger to themselves or others. Some background here from a 2023
@thetrace.org
story:
www.thetrace.org/2023/10/main...
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Will Maine's Permissive Gun Laws Change After the Lewiston Shooting?
The state has high rates of gun ownership, yet mass shootings were virtually unheard of — until now.
https://www.thetrace.org/2023/10/maine-lewiston-mass-shooting-gun-reform/
12 days ago
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reposted by
Will Van Sant
Brian Freskos
14 days ago
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear two Second Amendment cases this year, the most in its history.
@bychipbrownlee.com
put together this explainer about the cases and their potential implications.
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The Supreme Court Is More Interested in Second Amendment Cases Than Ever Before
The justices will consider two significant challenges this term. Here’s how they might affect gun laws.
https://www.thetrace.org/2025/10/supreme-court-2a-cases-guns-drugs-hawaii/
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When you're a reporter and you betray a source, you've blown up your credibility — your word means nothing.
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
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Rubio promised to betray U.S. informants to get Trump’s El Salvador prison deal
To secure U.S. access to President Nayib Bukele’s notorious CECOT prison, Rubio agreed to turn over several MS-13 leaders central to a long-running Justice Department investigation.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/10/19/rubio-el-salvador-prison-bukele-ms13-informants/
30 days ago
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Just the latest impact from the great work that
@champebarton.bsky.social
has done for
@thetrace.org
on a major gunmaker and its problem pistol.
www.thetrace.org/2025/10/sig-...
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Trace Investigation Prompts New Jersey to Sue Gunmaker Over Allegedly Defective Pistols
New Jersey's attorney general is demanding that SIG Sauer recall its P320 pistol after the gun was involved in several unintentional shootings in the state.
https://www.thetrace.org/2025/10/sig-sauer-p320-new-jersey-lawsuit/
about 1 month ago
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reposted by
Will Van Sant
Josiah Bates
about 1 month ago
It's projects like this that make me proud to be part of
@thetrace.org
. I'm from Brownsville, and I don't think I've ever seen it captured this way in any other news outlet.
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These Neighborhood Groups Are Fighting to Rewrite Brownsville’s Legacy of Violence
I first met Gene Krell in February of 2020, when I was photographing the Black Lives Matter movement in New York City. Krell was a native of Brownsville, a residential neighborhood on the east side of...
https://www.thetrace.org/2025/10/brownsville-ny-gun-violence-prevention
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Our Atlas of American Gun Violence is revamped, giving users new ways of exploring the data. Powerful
@thetrace.org
work.
www.thetrace.org/2025/10/anno...
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Where Are People Being Shot in America?
The Trace’s Atlas of American Gun Violence has been updated to allow you to search by address, county, congressional district, type of shooting — and to download maps.
https://www.thetrace.org/2025/10/announcement-atlas-american-gun-violence/
about 1 month ago
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reposted by
Will Van Sant
Aaron Mendelson
about 1 month ago
Today, we're debuting a new feature on
@thetrace.org
called 92 Days in Gun Violence. It's a quarterly update. The big finding thru Q3 is that have been fewer shooting deaths in 2025 than any year in a decade. Plus more on gun sales, our work, and recent research:
www.thetrace.org/2025/10/shoo...
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Gun dealers talk to
@champebarton.bsky.social
about the drop in demand, what drives sales, and the state of the industry. Some dealers are seeing folks who bought during the pandemic sales surge now seeking to sell their guns.
www.thetrace.org/2025/10/gun-...
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Gun Stores Are Struggling Under Trump
Dealers say the president’s gun-friendly policies have actually hurt their sales. “People have a tendency to want what they feel is under threat," one said.
https://www.thetrace.org/2025/10/gun-sales-down-trump-slump-demand/
about 1 month ago
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Revealing look by
@mikespies.bsky.social
at a troubled and now abandoned partnership between the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the gun industry's trade group. Seems it had some success as a PR exercise at least.
www.thetrace.org/2025/10/gun-...
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A Program Backed by the Gun Industry Failed to Reduce Suicide — and Was Secretly Shut Down Early
The country’s best-known suicide prevention group teamed up with the gun industry. The effort was good for public relations and raising money, but it never met its goal, and internal records show why.
https://www.thetrace.org/2025/10/gun-suicide-prevention-nssf-program/
about 1 month ago
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reposted by
Will Van Sant
Jennifer Mascia
about 1 month ago
Claim: President Trump says Portland is "war-ravaged" and "on fire." Fact-check: Gun violence in Portland has been plummeting since the pandemic — and shootings in the neighborhood around the ICE facility are rare
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Given yesterday's call to use American cities as military training grounds, sharing this debunking of Trump's crime claims and related
@thetrace.org
coverage put together by my colleague
@jenmascia.bsky.social
www.thetrace.org/2025/09/trum...
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Trump’s Big Crime Lies
As the president prepares to send federal troops into Memphis and Chicago, we debunk a few of his most mendacious talking points.
https://www.thetrace.org/2025/09/trump-crime-lies-immigrants-democrats/
about 2 months ago
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reposted by
Will Van Sant
The Trace
about 2 months ago
Make a gift to help The Trace inform more people about an issue that affects all of us:
thetrace.fundjournalism.org?campaign=701...
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reposted by
Will Van Sant
Aaron Mendelson
about 2 months ago
Sobering story from
@themainemonitor.org
on the high rates of gun suicides among older Mainers. They're the first newsroom to use a new Gun Violence Data Hub dataset to localize a story on this subject.
themainemonitor.org/maine-suicid...
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How Maine's rates of gun suicide compare to national trends
More older Mainers died by gun suicide than in car crashes over a 15-year period, data that mirrors a troubling trend across the country.
https://themainemonitor.org/maine-suicide-rates/
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reposted by
Will Van Sant
Tali Woodward
about 2 months ago
Trump talks about crime a lot. And much of what he says is false.
@jenmascia.bsky.social
breaks it down here
www.thetrace.org/2025/09/trum...
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Trump’s Big Crime Lies
As the president prepares to send federal troops into Memphis and Chicago, we debunk a few of his most mendacious talking points.
https://www.thetrace.org/2025/09/trump-crime-lies-immigrants-democrats/
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NEWS: In 2020, the ATF added nonbinary as a sex choice on the federal background check form for gun sales. Now, the agency says the form is being modified to comply with Trump's order declaring male and female immutable categories.
www.thetrace.org/2025/09/gun-...
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Buying a Gun Is About to Get More Complicated for Nonbinary People
The ATF has told The Trace that the federal background check form for gun sales is being revised to recognize only two sexes.
https://www.thetrace.org/2025/09/gun-background-check-nonbinary-trump-atf/
about 2 months ago
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Suicide among older men, particularly white men, is rising. Reporter
amendelson.bsky.social
goes deep and delivers illuminating details, like a gun store owner catching heat for trying to boost suicide awareness. Check it out:
www.thetrace.org/2025/09/gun-...
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The Quiet Crisis: What’s Driving Gun Suicides Among Older Americans?
More and more older Americans are dying by firearm suicide, a new analysis from The Trace and GQ reveals. Older white men and those in rural areas experience alarmingly high rates.
https://www.thetrace.org/2025/09/gun-suicide-data-older-americans-men/
2 months ago
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Rita Oceguera keeps a spotlight on disinfo for
@thetrace.org
www.thetrace.org/2025/09/chic...
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Trump Says Chicago Is Crime-Ridden. But Shootings Are Down 50 Percent Since His First Term.
Chicagoans interviewed by The Trace say they’ve been feeling safer in their neighborhoods — and do not want intervention from ICE or the National Guard.
https://www.thetrace.org/2025/09/chicago-crime-federal-intervention-ice-threat/
2 months ago
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Race and geography divide gun deaths in Washtenaw County, MI, reflecting a national pattern. More fine work by
@josiahbates.bsky.social
in
@thetrace.org
www.thetrace.org/2025/09/wash...
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This Midwestern County's Divergent Gun Violence Patterns Reflect a Broader American Reality
In Washtenaw County, Michigan, social workers and community violence specialists are responding differently, if simultaneously, to gun suicides and homicides.
https://www.thetrace.org/2025/09/washtenaw-mi-gun-suicide-homicide-race/
2 months ago
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reposted by
Will Van Sant
Josiah Bates
2 months ago
This sweeping overview by
@radleybalko.bsky.social
on the Trump administration's expansion of federal power is worth your time. Nothing but facts and context in here
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Roundup: One month of authoritarianism. Plus: Obama cites The Watch! (sort of)
Here's what happened in just one month of the Trump administration's dizzying push toward autocracy
https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/roundup-one-month-of-authoritarianism
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reposted by
Will Van Sant
Josiah Bates
2 months ago
In just two weeks, more than 20 U.S. colleges received false active shooter reports, triggering lockdowns and heavy police responses. These swatting incidents may be fake, but the fear and trauma they create are real. Strong reporting from
@jenmascia.bsky.social
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More Than 20 Active Shooting Hoaxes Have Locked Down Colleges Over the Past Two Weeks
Experts said swatting incidents can traumatize students and first responders.
https://www.thetrace.org/2025/09/swatting-school-shooting-hoax-trauma/
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reposted by
Will Van Sant
Chip Brownlee
3 months ago
Most of the states backing Trump’s crime crackdown have areas with higher gun homicide rates than the nation’s capital, a Trace analysis shows. At least 17 Mississippi counties endured more gun homicides per capita than the nation’s capital in 2024. Read:
www.thetrace.org/2025/08/nati...
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In a Q&A with a law and policing expert,
@jenmascia.bsky.social
explores limits to further crackdowns in Democratic cities that have opposed Trump.
www.thetrace.org/2025/08/trum...
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Legal Constraints Could Stymie Trump’s Plans to Police Other Cities
We spoke with a policing expert from Yale Law School about whether a federal takeover could come to New York or Chicago.
https://www.thetrace.org/2025/08/trump-national-guard-policing-legal/
3 months ago
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reposted by
Will Van Sant
Joy Resmovits
3 months ago
"The ongoing dispute exposed a foundational fracture in the city’s community violence intervention efforts. … That structural shift, according to several local activists, marked the beginning of a more top-down, enforcement-driven approach."
add a skeleton here at some point
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March for Our Lives, an important youth mobilizer, has hit hard times. Quite hard. Details in my latest story:
www.thetrace.org/2025/08/marc...
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They Rallied the Nation After the Parkland School Shooting. Years Later, Their Group Is Floundering.
The gun reform group has been rocked by divisions, layoffs, and — most recently — a lawsuit alleging racism and retaliation.
https://www.thetrace.org/2025/08/march-for-our-lives-lawsuit-layoffs/
3 months ago
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reposted by
Will Van Sant
Craig Hunter
3 months ago
Trump claimed the nation’s capital has been “taken over by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals.” But crime in D.C. and other cities he's targeted is not out of control — in fact, it’s decreasing. Below, we fact-check his claims.
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The Data Doesn’t Support Trump’s Justification for Deploying the National Guard
Trump has taken over policing in D.C. and threatened to do the same in other cities. A Trace analysis shows that his claims of runaway violence are false.
https://www.thetrace.org/2025/08/trump-dc-national-guard-violent-crime/
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After capitalizing on a favorable 2022 Supreme Court ruling, gun rights groups are filing far fewer new legal challenges to firearms restrictions in federal court. But they have lots of irons in the fire at the federal appellate level.
www.thetrace.org/2025/06/gun-...
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What’s Behind the Decline in Pro-Gun Lawsuits?
While filing fewer lawsuits against gun restrictions, gun rights groups are still touting their litigation efforts to rally supporters — and raise money.
https://www.thetrace.org/2025/06/gun-rights-lawsuits-decline-bruen-trump/
5 months ago
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www.thetrace.org/2025/04/paul...
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Trump's War on Law Firms May Imperil Gun Suits
After the president sought to punish Paul Weiss, references to its work on firearms disappeared from its website. Gun safety advocates fear a retreat.
https://www.thetrace.org/2025/04/paul-weiss-gun-industry-lawsuit-trump/
7 months ago
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reposted by
Will Van Sant
Chip Brownlee
8 months ago
If you're a current or former federal employee who works on gun violence prevention, data collection, or research, I would love to hear from you. Protonmail:
[email protected]
Signal: byChipBrownlee.01 Keybase:
keybase.io/chip_brownlee
add a skeleton here at some point
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Here's an update to some deep digging published with
@motherjones.com
over the summer. Millions more in anonymous cash was spent on the operation in 2023.
www.thetrace.org/2025/01/gun-...
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The Secret Plan to Strike Down U.S. Gun Laws
For decades, McLean Bible Church has served as the place of worship for many of Washington, D.C.’s Republican elite. The sprawling evangelical megachurch in Vienna, Virginia, boasts a roster of former...
https://www.thetrace.org/2025/01/gun-rights-litigation-funding-scotus/
10 months ago
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reposted by
Will Van Sant
The Trace
12 months ago
Stand up for truth and safety. Your gift to The Trace will ensure that gun violence is never ignored. Donate today to have your impact doubled during our NewsMatch campaign:
https://thetrace.fundjournalism.org/?campaign=701Pd00000JvJ7tIAF
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www.thetrace.org/2024/02/nra-...
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Jury Finds the NRA, Wayne LaPierre Liable in Corruption Case
A jury has found the National Rifle Association and its recently departed CEO, Wayne LaPierre, liable in a civil corruption case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James. Jurors ordered LaPi...
https://www.thetrace.org/2024/02/nra-trial-verdict-lapierre-damages/
over 1 year ago
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A jury has reached a verdict in the NY AG's lawsuit against the NRA and its former CEO Wayne LaPierre. More to come.
over 1 year ago
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The NY AG's case against the NRA is now with the jury.
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Jury Weighs Thorny NRA Corruption Charges
A jury in a Manhattan courthouse began deliberating February 16 in the New York Attorney General’s civil fraud case against the National Rifle Association and its former boss, Wayne LaPierre. The morn...
https://www.thetrace.org/2024/02/nra-jury-corruption-case-trial-new-york/
almost 2 years ago
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reposted by
Will Van Sant
The Trace
almost 2 years ago
NEW: Details have been scarce since the IRS claimed during the NRA’s failed 2021 bankruptcy that the gun group owed it money — following an October 2020 report that the agency was investigating CEO Wayne LaPierre. A previously unreported document may provide clues,
@vansant.bsky.social
writes.
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The IRS May Have Investigated the NRA, Document Suggests. What Happened?
Midway through week two of the National Rifle Association’s ongoing civil corruption trial in Manhattan last month, a defense attorney asked the organization’s chief financial officer whether the NRA had ever received “an inquiry from the IRS” about its annual tax filing. “Yes,” answered Sonya Rowling, who joined the NRA in 1999 and became CFO […]
https://www.thetrace.org/2024/02/nra-tax-filing-fraud-irs-court-documents/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=bluesky&utm_campaign=trace-branded&utm_content=edit-promo
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Wayne LaPierre's attorney wants to limit his client's time testifying on days LaPierre is fatigued. In addition to the already disclosed Lyme, a doctor's note the attorney provided cites "cognitive decline ... in a setting of a family history of Alzheimer's ... and significant cerebral volume loss"
almost 2 years ago
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reposted by
Will Van Sant
The Trace
almost 2 years ago
In June 2009, the NRA’s treasurer enlisted the group’s longtime PR firm to obfuscate executives’ extravagant spending. We obtained a secret audio recording of that meeting. In partnership with
@propublica.bsky.social
:
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New Recording Shows NRA Treasurer Plotting to Conceal Extravagant Expenses Involving Wayne LaPierre
At a meeting in June 2009, the treasurer of the National Rifle Association worked out a plan to conceal luxury expenses involving its chief executive, Wayne LaPierre, according to audio of the meeting...
https://www.thetrace.org/2024/01/nra-ackerman-secret-meeting-recording/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=bluesky&utm_campaign=trace-branded&utm_content=edit-promo
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reposted by
Will Van Sant
The Trace
almost 2 years ago
Our staff writer
@vansant.bsky.social
previewed the NRA's corruption trial and its stakes below — and will continue to follow the case in the coming weeks. For regular updates:
TheTrace.org/Newsletters
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The NRA Is Headed to Trial and Its CEO Just Resigned. What Could That Mean For the Organization?
A Manhattan jury is expected to begin hearing New York Attorney General Letitia James’s case against the National Rifle Association on January 8, three and a half years after she filed a lawsuit aga...
https://www.thetrace.org/2024/01/nra-trial-wayne-lapierre/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=bluesky&utm_campaign=trace-branded&utm_content=edit-promo
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Chronic Lyme disease is the condition behind Wayne LaPierre's decision to resign, per an NRA filing in the NY AG's case, which goes to trial today. Also, the group is arguing that his exodus undercuts claims that NRA illegality is "continuing or imminently likely to recur."
almost 2 years ago
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More NRA trial news: The NY AG and Josh Powell, a defendant and former aid to Wayne LaPierre, have settled. Powell admits to breaching his fiduciary duty to the NRA and must make $100K restitution in exchange for truthful testimony at trial and any further related legal actions.
almost 2 years ago
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My first story post on here for
@thetrace.org
: The NRA's Wayne LaPierre resigns.
www.thetrace.org/2024/01/wayn...
almost 2 years ago
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