Ep. 68: A New Gun Control Debate - Dismantling Our Racist 'Lock 'Em Up' Approach

An uptick in mass shootings over the past decade - one that is well documented and indisputable - has provided the cultural and media context for a corollary effort by big city mayors and certain states to push for harsher, more severe gun laws.

This response to these national tragedies is understandable: curb gun possession at all costs. But what if, in this rush to respond to the carnage, states and cities, backed by billionaire funding from the likes of Mike Bloomberg, are simply helping feed mass incarceration by turning to the all-familiar carceral approach to public safety issues?

This week, we explore the centering of white, establishment, moneyed interests in the media's gun control debate, a debate that more often than not focuses disproportionately on enacting longer, more severe prison sentences that uniformly criminalize Black and Latino youth, rather than directing resources to non-carceral solutions like targeting gun manufacturers and anti-poverty programs.

We are joined by Dan Denvir, host of Jacobin’s "The Dig" podcast, and Sharone Mitchell, Jr., Deputy Director of the Illinois Justice Project.

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Guests

Dan Denvir is a Visiting Fellow in International and Public Affairs at Brown University’s Watson Institute, a writer in residence at The Appeal, and the host of “The Dig” on Jacobin Radio. He is author of All-American Nativism (forthcoming from Verso).

Sharone R. Mitchell, Jr. is Deputy Director of the Illinois Justice Project. From 2009 to 2016, he was a trial attorney with the Cook County Public Defender’s Office.

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Show Notes

A Better Gun Control

Daniel Denvir | September 15, 2016 | Jacobin

Gun Control for Dummies, and Democrats

Chase Madar | June 29, 2016 | The Nation

The Secret History of Guns

Adam Winkler | September 2011 | The Atlantic

A year after Parkland, support for stricter gun laws wanes

Emily Stewart | February 14, 2019 | Vox

Shoot Someone In A Major US City, And Odds Are You’ll Get Away With It

Sarah Ryley & Sean Campbell | January 24, 2019 | BuzzFeed

After Trace/BuzzFeed News Investigation, Baltimore Officials Tell Police to Turn Up the Heat on Shooters

Sarah Ryley, Sean Campbell & Jeremy Singer-Vine | February 9, 2019 | The Trace

In Baltimore, More Police Spending Has Not Lowered Crime

Ben Smith | October 24, 2018 | Market Urbanism Report

Emanuel, Burke move to force the hand of banks on gun control

Hal Dardick | March 29, 2018 | Chicago Tribune

Chicago Media Help Sheriff Exploit Post-Parkland Gun Fears to Expand Pretrial Punishment

Sarah Lazare | February 28, 2018 | FAIR

All Talk, No Bolt-Action: Gun Injuries Drop During NRA Conventions 

Melinda Wenner Moyer | February 28, 2018 | Scientific American

The 'Shocking' Law That Protects Gunmakers After Mass Shootings Like Las Vegas

Sean Gregory | October 3, 2017 | TIME

The Gun Issue Even the NRA Won’t Touch

Christopher Moraff | January 13, 2016 | The Daily Beast

Here’s How The Nation Responded When A Black Militia Group Occupied A Government Building

Nick Wing | January 6, 2016 | Huffington Post

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References

Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America, Adam Winkler (W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2011)

Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America, James Forman Jr. (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2017)

The End Of The Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America, Greg Grandin (Metropolitan Books, 2018)

A Well-Regulated Militia: The Founding Fathers and the Origin of Gun Control in America, David T. Hardy (William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal, 2007)

Gun Law History in the United States and Second Amendment Right, Robert J. Spitzer (Law and Contemporary Problems, 2017)

U.S. Voter Support For Gun Control At All-Time High (Quinnipiac, October 12, 2017)

Latest Massacre Drives Gun Control Support To New High (Quinnipiac, November 15, 2017)

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Transcript

For a full transcript of this episode, go here.

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