Sign in

Chip Brownlee

@bychipbrownlee.com
1.3K followers 2.4K following 186 posts

Staff writer @thetrace.org Protonmail: chip.c.brownlee@protonmail.com Signal: byChipBrownlee.01

PostsRepliesMedia
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 17/09/2026
The violence prevention programs designed to work with young people most at risk of being shot or becoming involved in violence are losing federal support. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has amplified enforcement. Memphis has been a ground zero for both funding cuts and force.
thetrace.org
‘No One Is Born a Killer’
As the National Guard prowls city streets and federal funding for violence interruption dries up, a small but mighty team in Memphis works to stop teen gun violence before it happens.
254
Reposted by Chip Brownlee
The Trace @thetrace.org · 17/09/2026
As the National Guard prowls city streets and federal funding for violence interruption dries up, a small but mighty team in Memphis works to stop teen gun violence before it happens. Published in partnership with @theguardian.com
thetrace.org
‘No One Is Born a Killer’
As the National Guard prowls city streets and federal funding for violence interruption dries up, a small but mighty team in Memphis works to stop teen gun violence before it happens.
175
Reposted by Chip Brownlee
The Trace @thetrace.org · 08/09/2026
Birmingham has long struggled with violence and crime. As far back as its founding, the city has had a reputation of being dangerous. Mayor Randall Woodfin is working to change this. He spoke to @bychipbrownlee.com about the city’s approach to reducing shootings:
thetrace.org
Is Birmingham Bucking Its Long Struggle With Gun Violence?
Birmingham is on track to see one of its lowest homicide rates on record. Mayor Randall Woodfin discusses the city's progress.
032
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 17/08/2026
Silencers and short-barreled firearms like sawed-off shotguns have been heavily regulated under the National Firearms Act for nearly a century. That just changed.
thetrace.org
The Justice Department Lets 90-Year-Old Regulations on Silencers Fade Away
The DOJ let a judge block longstanding registration requirements on silencers and short-barreled guns like sawed-off shotguns. But the new legal landscape is murky.
21310
Reposted by Chip Brownlee
Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Cecilia Vega says she was pressured by Bari Weiss and other CBS execs to include misinformation and political bias in reporting that aired this year. "Never in my career, until now, have I felt that those edits, that those suggestions, came from a place of misinformation or politics."
ms.now
“60 Minutes” correspondent says Bari Weiss pressured her to report on events that “never happened”
Cecilia Vega said CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss pressured her to include “misinformation” and “political bias” in several news segments.
15452032104
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 22/07/2026
The ruling against New Jersey’s assault weapons ban is likely only the first, and could mark the beginning of the end for similar laws in nearly a dozen states.
thetrace.org
New Jersey Just Lost Its Assault Weapons Ban. Here’s Why That Matters for the Rest of the Country.
The Supreme Court is poised to rule such bans unconstitutional next year.
000
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 15/07/2026
GrabAGun says it is “uniquely positioned” to benefit from a Trump administration proposal to allow guns to be shipped directly to buyers. Donald Trump Jr. has 300,000 shares in the company. Two senators have questions about that. www.thetrace.org/newsletter/t...
thetrace.org
Todd Blanche, Donald Trump Jr. Face Questions Over Direct-to-Door Gun Rule
GrabAGun says it is “uniquely positioned” to benefit from a proposal allowing guns to be shipped directly to buyers. Donald Trump Jr. has 300,000 shares in the company.
21312
Reposted by Chip Brownlee
The Trace @thetrace.org · 15/07/2026
www.thetrace.org/newsletter/t...
thetrace.org
Todd Blanche, Donald Trump Jr. Face Questions Over Direct-to-Door Gun Rule
GrabAGun says it is “uniquely positioned” to benefit from a proposal allowing guns to be shipped directly to buyers. Donald Trump Jr. has 300,000 shares in the company.
044
Reposted by Chip Brownlee
Brian Lyman @brianlyman.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Really interesting story. Worth your time.
0144
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 08/07/2026
Gun violence has plummeted in Baltimore — along with other crimes. Yes, violence is falling nationwide. But Baltimore is outpacing the nation. And unlike other cities, it never had a COVID violence spike to begin with. So this is much more than a "return to normal." My latest for @thetrace.org
2158
Reposted by Chip Brownlee
Jennifer Mascia @jenmascia.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
America's 250th birthday was marred by gun violence — but not as much as in past years. There were 139 shootings in the U.S. on July 4th, down slightly from last year, and down considerably from 5 years ago.
143
Reposted by Chip Brownlee
Jennifer Mascia @jenmascia.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
My latest, with graphics @bychipbrownlee.com
thetrace.org
July 4th Shootings This Year Went Down — Again
But it wasn’t without tragedy, as mass shootings took place in Mississippi, New York, and South Carolina over the weekend.
111
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 30/06/2026
The Supreme Court cases, Viramontes v. Cook County and Grant v. Higgins, ask whether the Second Amendment protects the right to possess AR-15-style rifles and similar weapons.
thetrace.org
The Supreme Court Will Decide Whether States Can Ban Assault Weapons
After a term that produced two Second Amendment rulings, the justices are taking up yet another gun rights case.
010
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 30/06/2026
This time next year, the Supreme Court could be striking down state assault weapons bans. The court has agreed to hear challenges to laws in Illinois and Connecticut. After relisting a bunch of AWB cases for weeks upon weeks, SCOTUS finally granted cert.
SCOTUS granted cert to two assault weapons ban cases, Viramontes v. Cook County, Illinois, and Grant v. Higgins.
361
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 25/06/2026
This is yet another set of signals from the Supreme Court that could make it even harder for states, cities, and the federal government to defend gun laws. That will have effects far beyond Hawaii and the few other states with similar "default switch" laws.
110
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 25/06/2026
Hayley Lawrence from the Duke Center for Firearms Law told me that could be a major burden for governments defending gun laws. “As a practical matter, I do not know how a court would measure whether a law was ‘well accepted,’” she said. “That seems like opening Pandora’s box.”
110
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 25/06/2026
One of the most important parts of the ruling may be methodological. The majority appeared to say courts should ask not just whether similar historical laws existed, but how many jurisdictions adopted them and, importantly, whether they were “well accepted.”
110
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 25/06/2026
Jackson went further, accusing the majority of turning Bruen into a tool for striking down gun laws even when historical support exists. “The Court’s objective is protecting guns, not consistently preserving any principle of law,” she wrote.
120
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 25/06/2026
The liberal justices dissented. Justice Elena Kagan argued the historical laws did not need to be perfect “twins.” In her view, the old poaching laws and Hawaii’s law worked the same basic way: They set a default rule against guns on private property unless the owner allowed them.
120
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 25/06/2026
But the majority signaled deep skepticism toward using racially discriminatory gun laws from Black Codes as historical analogues. Even though, as Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson pointed out in a dissent, those laws are just as much a part of America's history.
110
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 25/06/2026
Lower courts have often relied on Reconstruction-era laws in these cases, because that's when the Second Amendment first applied to states with the passage of the 14th Amendment. It was also when a lot of states increasingly enacted stricter gun laws, both for racist reasons and not.
thetrace.org
Musket vs. AR-15: Judges Are Throwing Out Gun Restrictions Because of Antiquated Laws From America’s Founding
A 2022 ruling that gun laws should align with the nation’s “history and tradition” has sown confusion in courts and weakened longstanding gun restrictions.
120
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 25/06/2026
Hawaii also cited an 1865 Louisiana law barring firearms on another person’s premises or plantation without consent. But the court rejected that too, noting it was part of Louisiana’s Black Code and was used to disarm Black Americans after the Civil War.
110
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 25/06/2026
In this case, Hawaii pointed to several old anti-poaching laws from the 1700s and a 1890s Oregon law against armed trespass. The majority rejected them, saying they were either too different, too narrow, and — in the case of the Oregon law — too modern to support Hawaii’s default rule.
110
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 25/06/2026
If you think that's a little vague, you're not alone. Since then, courts have been fighting over what counts as a good enough historical match.
110
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 25/06/2026
Under Bruen, modern gun restrictions must be consistent with the country’s historical tradition of firearm regulation — basically, modern laws need to be "relevantly similar" to gun laws from early American history in how they limit gun rights and why.
110
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 25/06/2026
That is now the rule Hawaii and a few other states with similar laws must follow. But the bigger story is what the ruling says about Bruen, the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision that reshaped gun law and set the test for whether a gun restriction is constitutional.
110
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 25/06/2026
The immediate impact may be limited. Most states already work the other way around: Guns are allowed in businesses unless the owner posts a sign or otherwise says they are not. Importantly, private business owners still have the right to keep guns off their property.
110
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 25/06/2026
Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito said Hawaii’s rule was inconsistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation. He called the state’s restrictions a “distinct outlier.”
110
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 25/06/2026
The law said permit holders could not carry guns into places like restaurants, gyms, stores and other publicly accessible private property unless the owner gave express permission. The court said it went too far under the Second Amendment.
100
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 25/06/2026
The Supreme Court just handed down a major Second Amendment ruling — one that may have big consequences for how future gun rights cases will be judged. In a 6-3 decision, the court struck down Hawaii’s default ban on guns in public-facing private businesses.
162
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 18/06/2026
This is another Second Amendment case from a court that's still wrestling with the impact of its 2022 decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. We've been tracking the aftereffects of Bruen and recently updated our data.
thetrace.org
How a Supreme Court Decision on Gun Rights Has Reverberated Through Federal Courts
The Trace has compiled data on more than 1,600 challenges to gun laws since the landmark Bruen ruling in 2022 reshaped the right to bear arms.
020
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 18/06/2026
Prosecutions may also continue when someone uses a drug that “always renders its users dangerous because of its potency or for some other reason.”
100
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 18/06/2026
The federal drug ban will live on, though in a more restrained form. “In saying this much, we do not question that sometimes an individual’s unlawful use of marijuana (or any other controlled substance) may render him a danger to others,” Gorsuch wrote.
100
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 18/06/2026
At the same time, the unanimous court wrote that the ban may still constitutionally apply to users of marijuana and other drugs if the government can show that their drug use makes them a threat to public safety. “In many respects, this case is a narrow one,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote.
100
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 18/06/2026
In a unanimous (!!) 19-page decision, the court held that the federal law was unconstitutional when applied to a marijuana user.
100
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 18/06/2026
The Supreme Court on June 18 narrowed the federal ban on gun possession by people who use illegal drugs, ruling that the government must show that their drug use poses a risk of dangerous behavior.
thetrace.org
Supreme Court Limits the Federal Gun Ban on Drug Users
The court unanimously ruled that, without evidence of danger, the government cannot bar people from owning guns because they occasionally use marijuana.
121
Reposted by Chip Brownlee
Jennifer Mascia @jenmascia.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
527 million guns have been produced for the U.S. market since 1899, according to new gun manufacturing data published by the ATF and analyzed @bychipbrownlee.com The actual number of guns still in circulation could be lower — 403 million, according to one estimate.
175
Reposted by Chip Brownlee
The Trace @thetrace.org · 13/06/2026
“Switches” can convert semiautomatic guns into fully automatic weapons capable of firing dozens of rounds in seconds. In Connecticut, a new law will ban the sale of weapons that can be easily converted. The law is a part of a growing trend. The latest @bychipbrownlee.com:
thetrace.org
States Take a Different Approach to Getting ‘Switches’ Off the Streets
A new law in Connecticut is part of a growing trend.
0167
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 05/06/2026
In an interview, ATF General Counsel Robert Leider argued prosecution data doesn't capture the rule's full impact and said repealing it won't change enforcement against traffickers or unlicensed dealers. "We are not retreating from trafficking cases in the least," he told me. Read the Q&A:
thetrace.org
A Biden-Era Gun Rule Shows Little Effect. The ATF’s Top Lawyer Argues It Still Needs to Go.
Robert Leider says authorities will continue pursuing gun traffickers under existing law.
000
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 05/06/2026
Most cases involved allegations of trafficking, drug crimes, ghost guns, machine guns, or other serious criminal conduct—not hobbyists selling a few firearms. Prosecutions peaked in 2023 after Congress expanded the dealer definition through the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.
100
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 05/06/2026
The ATF wants to repeal a Biden-era rule meant to help identify people illegally dealing guns without a license. Critics warned it would target ordinary private sellers and expand background checks. But a @thetrace.org review of 600+ federal prosecutions found little evidence that happened.
thetrace.org
The Trump Administration Made a Big Show of Repealing a Biden-Era Gun Rule. It Never Amounted to Much Anyway.
A Trace analysis of more than 600 federal prosecutions found the rule didn’t have the intended effect.
232
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 04/05/2026
A new analysis of state data by The Trace links the chain to a quarter of California’s crime guns. The retailer also sold a shotgun to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner attacker. www.thetrace.org/2026/05/turn...
thetrace.org
Turner’s Outdoorsman Sold the Largest Share of Guns Traced to Crimes in California
A new analysis of state data by The Trace links the chain to a quarter of California’s crime guns. The retailer also sold a shotgun to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner attacker.
041
Reposted by Chip Brownlee
Jennifer Mascia @jenmascia.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
Making sense of the ATF's flurry of gun proposals announced earlier today: Most appear to focus on reducing paperwork, codifying practices the ATF already allows, or removing rules already blocked by courts, @bychipbrownlee.com reports
thetrace.org
The ATF Proposed 34 Changes Aimed at “Modernizing” Gun Regulations
Agency leader Robert Cekada portrayed the measures as historic, but most seemed administrative or perfunctory. One drew condemnation from gun reform groups.
1136
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 01/05/2026
The agency’s new leader, Robert Cekada, portrayed the measures as historic, but most seemed administrative or perfunctory. One drew immediate condemnation from gun reform groups. My latest on the ATF’s newest proposals: www.thetrace.org/2026/04/atf-...
thetrace.org
The ATF Proposed 34 Changes Aimed at “Modernizing” Gun Regulations
Agency leader Robert Cekada portrayed the measures as historic, but most seemed administrative or perfunctory. One drew condemnation from gun reform groups.
373
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 23/04/2026
The Firearms Policy Coalition, which has been losing membership dues and contributions, told prospective donors they could give David Hogg “the middle finger” by contributing on his birthday. www.thetrace.org/2026/04/fpc-... @thetrace.org
thetrace.org
The Gun Rights Group Trying to Fundraise Off a Parkland Survivor’s Birthday
The Firearms Policy Coalition told prospective donors they could give David Hogg “the middle finger” by contributing.
110
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 21/04/2026
www.thetrace.org/2026/04/murd... @thetrace.org
thetrace.org
Devastating Shootings in Louisiana and Virginia Follow This Pattern. It’s More Common Than You Know
An Army veteran and a former politician took the lives of their loved ones before killing themselves. A new analysis by The Trace shows how often murder-suicides occur.
042
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 21/04/2026
Over the last two years, a murder-suicide or family annihilation has occurred 1.8 times per day on average.
Over the last two years, a murder-suicide or family annihilation has occurred 1.8 times per day on average.
2109
Reposted by Chip Brownlee
Michigan Advance @michiganadvance.com · 17/04/2026
GOP-led states move to punish enforcement of red flag gun orders michiganadvance.com/2026/04/17/r... From @bychipbrownlee.com for @thetrace.org
michiganadvance.com
GOP-led states move to punish enforcement of red flag gun orders • Michigan Advance
ERPO laws, also known as red flag laws, once enjoyed support from across the political spectrum. Now, six states have prohibited enforcing the orders — and in some cases, prescribed fines or criminal ...
033
Reposted by Chip Brownlee
Jennifer Mascia @jenmascia.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
Trump's pardons are depriving the Crime Victims Fund of vital revenue. So far $113M in criminal fines has been forgiven that could have gone to shooting survivors and other victims of violent crime. My latest, w/@us.theguardian.com:
thetrace.org
Trump’s Pardons Are Costing Shooting Survivors Millions
A Trace analysis found that revenue once generated by fining white-collar criminals is drying up — now that the president has pardoned so many of them.
157
Chip Brownlee @bychipbrownlee.com · 16/04/2026
Republican lawmakers are seeking to punish anybody who enforces an extreme risk protection order. www.thetrace.org/2026/04/repu...
thetrace.org
This Law May Help Prevent Mass Shootings, but GOP-Led States Are Trying to Ban It
Republican lawmakers are seeking to punish anybody who enforces an extreme risk protection order.
184