This week, Nora and Marcus sit down with Renée Hopkins, CEO of the Alliance for Gun Responsibility, to talk about a grim reality we're supposed to pretend is normal: gun violence that's killing kids every day while politicians offer therapeutic platitudes and zero legislation.

But here's the twist—Hopkins and her team have actually made progress on this issue. While the rest of the country cycles through outrage, helplessness, fear, and legislative paralysis, Washington state has been quietly passing comprehensive gun safety laws. Background checks, extreme risk protection orders, safe storage requirements—turns out you can regulate tools of mass death without the constitution bursting into flames.

It's a conversation about how we misunderstand both where gun violence comes from and who it most impacts, and the policy wins that are saving the biggest killer of pregnant women and children across the US. Bring tissues. Bring rage. And maybe bring some faith that steady progress beats thoughts and prayers every time.

Mentioned in the episode:

Vanity Fair: Susie Wiles, JD Vance, and the "Junkyard Dogs": The White House Chief of Staff on Trump's Second Term (Part 1 of 2) | Alliance for Gun Responsibility | Past Lives podcast | Let this Radicalize You

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Music: No Tears for a Wolf · Ahamefule J. Oluo · Okanomodé. Used with permission.

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