Illustration by Golden Cosmos

This week, the House held hearings on gun violence, the first in eight years. In the 2018 elections, gun-reform groups outspent the N.R.A.—which appears to be in financial trouble. After years of greatly expanded gun rights, is the tide turning on gun reform? In this special episode, David Remnick talks with Lucy McBath, who ran for Congress as a gun reformer and won in the conservative district once represented by Newt Gingrich. We’ll hear from the reporter Mike Spies, the criminal-justice professor April Zeoli, the Navy veteran Will Mackin, and the gun-violence survivor Sarah Engle. And, in a dangerous neighborhood of Chicago, Lupe Cruz, a mediator, explains that, when illegal guns are ubiquitous, the only way to prevent shooting is to get between the people who want to shoot.

Lucy McBath and the Shifting Politics of Gun Reform in Congress

McBath won the Georgia congressional seat once held by Newt Gingrich by running on a platform of gun reform. She’s treading lightly.

Will Mackin on the Use and Misuse of an AR-15

A Navy veteran who was deployed in Afghanistan talks about the appeal of the firearm, and how the cavalier attitude of some civilian gun enthusiasts angers him.

Guns and Domestic Abuse, a Tragic Combination

Lawmakers have tried to get firearms away from intimate-partner abusers. A researcher analyzed what was achieved, and what went wrong.

To Stop the Shooting, Lupe Cruz Gets Between the People with the Guns

For a conflict mediator in a dangerous Chicago neighborhood, violence prevention is a job that never ends. And when it fails, somebody gets shot.