Red, Blue, and Brady

Tom and Caren Teves' eldest son Alex was killed at the Aurora, Colorado, movie theater shooting in July of 2012 while shielding his girlfriend, Amanda. That shooting left 12 people dead and 70 injured, but in the long days of media coverage that followed, attention was largely focused on the profile of the shooter -- not on the acts of heroism done by people like Alex, or the lives of those tragically taken. The Teves' then turned to activism, creating the “No Notoriety” campaign and organization, which is devoted to shifting attention from shooters to victims and survivors. The Teves, along with many gun violence prevention organizations, have been pushing media outlets across the United States to change how they cover mass shootings, citing research that maintains that mass shootings can have a "contagion effect,” that many shooters had modeled their behavior or attacks on previous shootings, and that many shooters seem to appear to desire recognition.

Host JJ is joined by Tom Teves, who shares how No Notoriety came to be, why the campaign is so important, and how individuals and news organizations can “minimize harm” while reporting on mass shootings.

Mentioned in this podcast:

• FBI to media: Don't name mass shooters (KSAT)
• Contagion in Mass Killings and School Shootings (PLOS One)
• A call to end the media coverage mass shooters want (Ted)
• Don’t Name Them, Don’t Show Them, But Report Everything Else: A Pragmatic Proposal for Denying Mass Killers the Attention They Seek and Deterring Future Offenders (American Behavioral Scientist)

Help support the podcast and Brady's mission by clicking here!

For more information on Brady, follow us on social media @Bradybuzz or visit our website at bradyunited.org.

Full transcripts and bibliographies of this episode are available at bradyunited.org/podcast.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255. 
Music provided by: David “Drumcrazie” Curby
Special thanks to Hogan Lovells for their long-standing legal support 
℗&©2019 Red, Blue, and Brady

In 2017, Brady took the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to court to obtain inspection reports of gun industry businesses that violated firearms laws. This litigation resulted in the ATF delivering 50,000 pages of reports detailing inspections of over 2,000 gun dealers between July 2015 and June 2017. These documents tell a disturbing story. In this very special episode, hosts Kelly and JJ are joined by Brady President Kris Brown and Legal Counsel & Director of Programs at Brady, Josh Scharff to discuss the findings of those reports —namely how dealers with repeated violations have been allowed to remain in business without reform.

A recent USA Today and the Trace investigation examined the ATF’s oversight of the gun industry using over 30,000 pages of these ATF inspection reports, which were provided by Brady and secured via Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and litigation.

Mentioned in this podcast:

• Brady vs. the ATF (Brady)
• USA TODAY Collaborates with The Trace on Yearlong, Data-Driven Investigation Revealing the ATF Routinely Lets Problem Gun Dealers Off Easy (USA Today)
• The ATF Catches Thousands of Lawbreaking Gun Dealers Every Year. It Shuts Down Very Few (the Trace)
• Gun used in Odessa shooting shows risk when chain of illegal sale starts with home-based hobbyist dealers (USA Today)

Help support the podcast and Brady's mission by clicking here!

For more information on Brady, follow us on social media @Bradybuzz or visit our website at bradyunited.org.

Full transcripts and bibliographies of this episode are available at bradyunited.org/podcast.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255. 
Music provided by: David “Drumcrazie” Curby
Special thanks to Hogan Lovells for their long-standing legal support 
℗&©2019 Red, Blue, and Brady

In the US, 1 in 5 women report experiencing severe physical violence from an intimate partner during their lifetime. Terrifyingly, when guns are introduced into that terrorism, the risk of serious death and injury only increases, with the American Journal of Public Health reporting that in domestic violence situations the risk of death is five times greater when a gun is present.

Kate Ranta, author of Killing Kate: A Story of Turning Abuse and Tragedy into Transformation and Triumph and gun violence prevention advocate, was one of those women. Thankfully, Ranta survived the violent shooting  inflicted against her by her ex-husband, but many women do not--56% of women murdered by an intimate partner from 2010 to 2019 were killed with a firearm.  To discuss what we don't know about domestic violence, how this violence continues to occur, and the role guns play in continuing to make individuals vulnerable, hosts Kelly and JJ are joined by Kate and by American journalist, writer, and professor Rachel Louise Snyder. Snyder's eye-opening book, No Visible Bruises: What We Don't Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us, is an absolutely essential read for those who want to address private violence. 

If you or someone you know may be at risk, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), or by text at the same number by texting the word "START." There are also advocates available online 24/7 at thehotline.org.
 
Mentioned in this podcast:

• Warning Signs of Abuse (National Domestic Violence Hotline)
• Domestic Violence High Risk Team Model (Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center)
• What Are Extreme Risk Laws (Brady)

Help support the podcast and Brady's mission by clicking here!

For more information on Brady, follow us on social media @Bradybuzz or visit our website at bradyunited.org.

Full transcripts and bibliographies of this episode are available at bradyunited.org/podcast.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255. 
Music provided by: David “Drumcrazie” Curby
Special thanks to Hogan Lovells for their long-standing legal support 
℗&©2019 Red, Blue, and Brady

Support the show (https://www.bradyunited.org/donate)

As we've often detailed on this podcast, while we may not always agree when debating about gun violence and the ways to solve it,  having the conversation itself is vital. Preventing that robust discourse is the fact that, despite the work of many activists, a divide exists within the gun violence prevention movement between responsible gun owners and gun violence prevention advocates. Yet, many responsible gun owners are gun violence prevention advocates -- or would like to be more engaged in the conversation. So, how can groups like Brady better bridge this gap in conversation? How can we all better conceptualize gun safety? What parts of the discussion are being left out completely? To kick off what is bound to be a multi-part conversation, hosts Kelly and JJ are joined by Ted C. Bonar, Psy.D.--a clinical psychologist, the Director of End Family Fire at Brady, and Kris West, a firearms instructor and gun safety advocate.

Mentioned in this podcast:

• 5 Gun Safety Basics to Practice and Pass On (Field and Stream)
• Why choose an RFID-enabled safe from Hornady Security (Hornady Security)
• Project ChildSafe 2019 Annual Review (RAND)
• Project 2025 | American Foundation for Suicide (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention) 

Help support the podcast and Brady's mission by clicking here!

For more information on Brady, follow us on social media @Bradybuzz or visit our website at bradyunited.org.

Full transcripts and bibliographies of this episode are available at bradyunited.org/podcast.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255. 
Music provided by: David “Drumcrazie” Curby
Special thanks to Hogan Lovells for their long-standing legal support 
℗&©2019 Red, Blue, and Brady

On the 29th of April, 2021, a variety of survivors and members from the Time Is Now Coalition gathered together to hold their own State of the Union address on the national mall in Washington DC, calling out to elected officials to pass gun control legislation in the U.S. Senate. The coalition, made up of over 80 gun violence prevention groups, have all gathered together to collectively fight for comprehensive, common sense gun law reform.  Among those there was gun violence survivor -- and Brady's new Vice President of Organizing -- Maisha Fields, who later joined hosts Kelly and JJ to discuss her own personal story, why the time is now, and how individuals can fight for change at both the local and national levels. 

Mentioned in this podcast:

• 'Get on it Joe!' How a coalition for strengthening gun violence prevention pushed Biden to act (Times Union) 
• Gun violence is up. It's been up for more than a year (NBC) 
• The Time is Now! (Brady)
• A State of the Union on Gun Violence (Team Enough)
• Gun Violence Survivors Hold Their Own ‘State of the Union’ (Now This)

Help support the podcast and Brady's mission by clicking here!

For more information on Brady, follow us on social media @Bradybuzz or visit our website at bradyunited.org.

Full transcripts and bibliographies of this episode are available at bradyunited.org/podcast.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255. 
Music provided by: David “Drumcrazie” Curby
Special thanks to Hogan Lovells for their long-standing legal support 
℗&©2019 Red, Blue, and Brady

Support the show (https://www.bradyunited.org/donate)

Since March 16, a day marked with shootings across Atlanta spas, there have been over 45 mass shootings in the United States. You, our listeners, reached out to  Kelly and JJ to ask how to talk to the young people in your lives about these mass shootings, and gun violence more broadly. To best answer your questions, we reached out to the great Nancy Kislin, LCSW, MFT, who has been a therapist specializing in helping adults reach anxious kids for almost 30 years. She is also the author of the book  "LOCKDOWN: Talking to Your Kids about School Violence," and frequently educates on how adults can help children navigate a difficult world. In this very special episode, Nancy answers your questions directly, and provides very important guidance that can help us all.

Mentioned in this podcast:

• How to talk to children about shootings: An age-by-age guide (Time)
• How to support survivors and people impacted by gun violence (Brady)
• The End Family Fire toolkit (End Family Fire)
• How to talk to kids about mass shootings and attacks (Psychology Today)

Help support the podcast and Brady's mission by clicking here!

For more information on Brady, follow us on social media @Bradybuzz or visit our website at bradyunited.org.

Full transcripts and bibliographies of this episode are available at bradyunited.org/podcast.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255. 
Music provided by: David “Drumcrazie” Curby
Special thanks to Hogan Lovells for their long-standing legal support 
℗&©2019 Red, Blue, and Brady

Support the show (https://www.bradyunited.org/donate)

Support the show (https://www.bradyunited.org/donate)

According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been over 147 mass shootings in America this year.* These mass shootings account for only a tiny percentage of the United State's gun deaths, but nevertheless tend to dominate our news cycles. Two contradictory situations have developed overtime: while many have argued that Americans have become desensitized to the horror of mass shootings, many media scholars have also pointed out the US fascination with mass shooters themselves.

How have Americans become accustomed to these continued killings? What myths have been built up around these murderers, around firearms, and about ourselves? To attempt to answer those questions, veteran journalist Seamus McGraw joins hosts Kelly and JJ to discuss his newest book, From a Taller Tower: The Rise of the American Mass Shooter. In his book, Seamus details how mass shooters have developed from the 1966 University of Texas massacre to the 2017 Mandalay Bay massacre in Las Vegas--and how our rhetoric to "explain" them has developed along with them.

*the Gun Violence Archive defines a mass shooting as when four or more people have been shot or killed, not including the shooter.

Mentioned in this podcast:

• From a Taller Tower: the Rise of the American Mass Shooter (University of Texas Press)
• The terrible numbers that grow with each mass shooting (the Washington Post)
• Here's Why You Can Shut Out the Shock of Mass Shootings (Time)
• What America keeps getting wrong about mass shooters (Slate)

Help support the podcast and Brady's mission by clicking here!

For more information on Brady, follow us on social media @Bradybuzz or visit our website at bradyunited.org.

Full transcripts and bibliographies of this episode are available at bradyunited.org/podcast.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255. 
Music provided by: David “Drumcrazie” Curby
Special thanks to Hogan Lovells for their long-standing legal support 
℗&©2019 Red, Blue, and Brady

Support the show (https://www.bradyunited.org/donate)

Support the show (https://www.bradyunited.org/donate)

In Children Under Fire: An American Crisis, John Woodrow Cox lays out the myths surrounding gun violence in the United States as it pertains to children. By exploring the stories of a handful of American children, Cox explains how  “children who are killed or maimed dominate headlines, but they represent only a fraction of the problem in the United States, where not thousands, but millions of children are affected every year...the kids who weren’t shot and aren’t considered victims by our legal system but who have, nonetheless, been irreparably harmed by the epidemic.”

Cox details everything from lockdowns to the gun lobby to suicide, underscoring each point with the conceit that children are not “naturally resilient,” and survivors of gun violence need care. To help explore his book, and these myths, hosts Kelly and JJ are joined not just by the Pulitzer-finalist author, but by y Brady President Kris Brown and the Director of  End Family Fire , Dr. Ted C. Bonar, Psy.D.

Mentioned in this podcast:

•  Children Under Fire: An American Crisis (Harper Collins)
• "Four years ago, I met two extraordinary children" (John Woodrow Cox, Twitter)
• Students' Plan to Save Teacher in Wheelchair During School Shooting Goes Viral (Newsweek) 
• He said he was going to watch cartoons. Instead, he opened his dad’s gun safe (the Washington Post)
• Improving Gun Policy Science (RAND) 
• How Gun Violence Affects American Children (NPR)
• What the Threat of Gun Violence Has Taught a Generation of American Children (University of Minnesota) 

Help support the podcast and Brady's mission by clicking here!

For more information on Brady, follow us on social media @Bradybuzz or visit our website at bradyunited.org.

Full transcripts and bibliographies of this episode are available at bradyunited.org/podcast.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255. 
Music provided by: David “Drumcrazie” Curby
Special thanks to Hogan Lovells for their long-standing legal support 
℗&©2019 Red, Blue, and Brady

Support the show (https://www.bradyunited.org/donate)

In 2010, Christen McGinnes felt she had "hit rock bottom and kept going." On October 22, 2010, she pointed her long-owned .357 revolver at her head, and pulled the trigger. Thankfully, Christen survived, and now is a devoted volunteer and advocate fighting for gun violence prevention. Suicide by gun comprises the largest portion of gun deaths in America: over 23,000 Americans die from firearm suicide each year--which is about 63 a day.

To talk about her story, her advocacy, and what myths around firearm suicide still persist,  hosts Kelly and JJ are joined not just by the great Christen McGinnes, but also by Ted C. Bonar, Psy.D.--a clinical psychologist, the Director of End Family Fire at Brady, and the Executive Director of the Clinical Readiness Project. (Also joining--Christen and Ted's dogs!)

Mentioned in this podcast:

• Behind the Bullet (BTB Productions )
• I Shot Myself in the Head and Survived (the Trace)
• Virginia Woman Rebuilds Her Life After Attempted Suicide (WAMU)
• End Family Fire Resources (End Family Fire)
• Gun Suicide Across the States(Brady)
• Suicide Is The Top Kind Of Gun Death. This PSA Wants That To Change (Bustle)

Help support the podcast and Brady's mission by clicking here!

For more information on Brady, follow us on social media @Bradybuzz or visit our website at bradyunited.org.

Full transcripts and bibliographies of this episode are available at bradyunited.org/podcast.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255. 
Music provided by: David “Drumcrazie” Curby
Special thanks to Hogan Lovells for their long-standing legal support 
℗&©2019 Red, Blue, and Brady

Support the show (https://www.bradyunited.org/donate)

When is a gun not a gun?

Ghost guns are unserialized and untraceable firearms that can be bought online and assembled at home. They are often sold through "ghost gun kits," which include all of the parts and often the equipment necessary to build these weapons at home. These kits are widely available and can be purchased by anyone, including prohibited purchasers, domestic abusers, and gun traffickers — without a background check. As these kits and guns are sold at gun shows and online every day throughout the country, they undermine all of the life-saving policies that state legislatures have fought so hard to put in place. Yet getting legislation passed to prevent the spread of these ghost guns has been incredibly difficult. To discuss why, hosts Kelly and JJ are joined by three amazing Brady and Team Enough ghost gun experts--Stephan Abrams, Steve Lindley, and Tanya Schardt. 

Mentioned in this podcast:
What are ghost guns? (Brady)
Executive actions to prevent gun violence (Brady)
Loophole lets criminals buy untraceable 'ghost guns' online (NBC)
Do-It-Yourself 'ghost guns' bypass background checks and firearm registration (NPR)
What makes a gun a ghost gun? (the Trace)

Help support the podcast and Brady's mission by clicking here! 

For more information on Brady, follow us on social media @Bradybuzz or visit our website at bradyunited.org.

Full transcripts and bibliographies of this episode are available at bradyunited.org/podcast.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255. 
Music provided by: David “Drumcrazie” Curby
Special thanks to Hogan Lovells for their long-standing legal support 
℗&©2019 Red, Blue, and Brady

Support the show (https://www.bradyunited.org/donate)