“Cuando te disparan, dejas de pensar en el futuro”, dijo.

Su esposa, su hijo y su fe son su gran apoyo. En el pasado quiso trabajar como operador de montacargas, pero logró desarrollar una carrera estable en tecnología de la información. Hoy en día se rodea de otras personas sobrevivientes de heridas de bala y se enfoca en el activismo.

Aun así, el trauma permanece en su vida cotidiana. Cuando la violencia por armas de fuego aumentó durante la pandemia de covid, sacudió su frágil sentido de seguridad. Mudó a su familia de Philadelphia a un suburbio arbolado en Delaware. Pero el miedo constante al crimen persiste.

Ahora está considerando comprar un arma.

Harris es una de las decenas de miles de personas que mueren o resultan heridas cada año por un arma de fuego, una crisis de salud pública que se intensificó durante la pandemia y que lleva a a la sala de emergencias cada media hora.

En las últimas dos décadas, la industria de armas de fuego y ha intensificado sus campañas de ventas a través de influencers en redes sociales, presentaciones en conferencias y .

Una organización del sector reconoció que su cliente tradicional era , por lo que en años recientes comenzó a dirigir su mercadeo hacia y otras comunidades de color, , que se ven afectadas de forma desproporcionada por la violencia de las armas.

La administración Trump redujo la supervisión federal sobre las empresas de armas, que la Oficina de Alcohol, Tabaco, Armas de Fuego y Explosivos (ATF, por sus siglas en inglés) “caracterizada por la transparencia, la responsabilidad y la colaboración con la industria de las armas de fuego”.

El dolor causado por esta forma de violencia atraviesa divisiones políticas, culturales y geográficas, pero ningún grupo ha sufrido tanto como las personas afroamericanas, como Harris. citados por investigadores, en 2021 las personas negras tenían casi 14 veces más probabilidades de morir por homicidio con arma de fuego que las personas blancas. Los hombres y niños negros representan el 6% de la población, pero son de las víctimas de homicidio.

Washington ha ofrecido poco alivio: las armas siguen siendo uno de los pocos productos de consumo que el gobierno federal en cuanto a salud y seguridad.

“La política de las armas en Estados Unidos está tremendamente desalineada con las prioridades correctas, que deberían centrarse en la salud, la seguridad y el derecho fundamental a vivir”, dijo el abogado Jon Lowy, fundador de , quien ayudó a representar a México en una demanda —sin éxito— contra Smith & Wesson y otros fabricantes de armas que llegó hasta la Corte Suprema. “Estados Unidos permite y respalda prácticas de la industria armamentista que serían totalmente inaceptables en cualquier otra parte del mundo”.

ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø News llevó a cabo una investigación sobre la violencia por armas de fuego durante la pandemia, período en el que las muertes por estas armas alcanzaron su nivel más alto en la historia.

Los periodistas revisaron investigaciones académicas, informes del Congreso y datos de hospitales, y entrevistaron a decenas de expertos en salud pública y en este tipo de violencia, personas dueñas de armas y víctimas o sus familiares.

La investigación encontró que, mientras los funcionarios imponían restricciones para frenar la propagación de covid, las decisiones políticas y regulatorias impulsaron las ventas de armas y, con ello, otra crisis de salud pública.

Mientras los gobiernos estatales y locales escuelas, pedían a la población que se quedara en casa y suspendían actividades en gimnasios, teatros, centros comerciales y otros espacios, el entonces presidente Donald Trump mantuvo abiertas las tiendas de armas, considerándolas para el funcionamiento de la sociedad.

Kush Desai, vocero de la Casa Blanca, no respondió a solicitudes de entrevista ni a preguntas sobre los esfuerzos de la administración Trump para reducir la regulación de la industria de armas.

Durante la pandemia, el gobierno federal entregó más de $150 millones en asistencia financiera a empresas y grupos del sector de las armas a través del Programa de Protección de Cheques de Pago (Paycheck Protection Program), incluso cuando algunas empresas reportaban fuertes ventas, según del grupo de defensa Comunidades por la Seguridad de las Armas (Everytown for Gun Safety).

Funcionarios federales dijeron que el programa tenía como objetivo mantener empleos, pero millones de dólares fueron a parar a empresas de armas que no declararon si esos fondos ayudarían a conservar puestos de trabajo, según el informe.

Alrededor de en Estados Unidos compró un arma durante los dos primeros años de la pandemia, incluidos millones de compradores primerizos, según datos de encuestas de NORC en la Universidad de Chicago.

Harris comprende claramente lo que impulsa esa demanda.

“Las armas no van a desaparecer a menos que abordemos la raíz de los miedos de las personas”, dijo.

muestran que la mayoría de los que poseen un arma creen que les brinda mayor seguridad. Pero los datos de salud pública indican que tener un arma en casa de homicidio y triplica las probabilidades de suicidio.

“No hay pruebas de que las armas aumenten la protección”, señaló Kelly Drane, directora de investigación del Centro Legal Giffords para Prevenir la Violencia por Armas de Fuego ().

“Nos han contado una mentira fundamental”, añadió.

Muertes récord

Menos de un año después del inicio de la pandemia, Jacquez Anlage, de 20 años, fue asesinado a tiros en un apartamento en Jacksonville, Florida. Cinco años después, el crimen sigue sin resolverse.

Su madre, Crystal Anlage, dijo que cayó de rodillas y gritó de dolor en su jardín cuando la policía le dio la noticia.

Contó que Jacquez superó años en el sistema de cuidado temporal —pasó por 36 hogares— antes de que ella y su esposo, Matt, lo adoptaran a los 16 años.

Jacquez acababa de mudarse a su propio apartamento cuando lo mataron. Amaba a los animales y quería convertirse en técnico veterinario. Era amable y afectuoso, dijo Crystal de su hijo adoptivo, medía 6’4” y pesaba 215 libras, propias de ser un ex jugador de fútbol americano y baloncesto.

“Recién comenzaba a sentirse seguro en la vida”, añadió Crystal Anlage.

Investigadores afirman que padres como Crystal Anlage cargan un trauma que destruye su sentido de seguridad.

Anlage contó que padece trastorno de estrés postraumático y ansiedad. Le aterran las armas y los fuegos artificiales.

Pero ha logrado darle un propósito al asesinato de su hijo: cofundó la organización Fundación de Sobrevivientes de Jacksonville (Jacksonville Survivors Foundation), que busca concientizar sobre el impacto del homicidio y apoyar a madres y padres en duelo.

“La muerte de Jacquez no puede ser en vano”, dijo. “Quiero que su legado sea el amor”.

Ese legado y el de muchos otros jóvenes asesinados a tiros quedan opacados por el poderoso mensaje de miedo que difunden los fabricantes de armas.

Durante la pandemia, las campañas publicitarias del sector le decían a la población que necesitaba armas para defenderse de criminales, manifestantes, policías poco confiables y durante , según presentada por grupos que abogan por el control de armas ante la Comisión Federal de Comercio (Federal Trade Commission, FTC).

En una del 18 de junio de 2020, de la empresa Lone Wolf Arms, un fabricante con sede en Idaho, se mostraba a un manifestante ante policías antidisturbios entre las palabras “¿Retirar la financiación a la policía? Defiéndete tú mismo”. El pie de foto ofrecía “entre 10% y 25% de descuento en armas demo y pistolas completas”.

Impact Arms, una tienda de armas en línea, publicó el 3 de agosto de 2020 en Instagram una imagen de una persona guardando un rifle en una mochila, señala el documento. El mensaje decía: “El mundo está bastante loco ahora mismo. No es mala idea llevar algo más eficiente que una pistola”.

La Asociación Nacional del Rifle (National Rifle Association, NRA) publicó en 2020 de cuatro minutos en YouTube donde una mujer negra sostiene un rifle y le dice a la audiencia que necesitan un arma durante la pandemia. “Tal vez estés almacenando comida para superar esta crisis”, dijo, “pero si no te estás preparando para defender tu propiedad cuando todo salga mal, en realidad estás almacenando para otra persona”.

El mensaje fue efectivo. Las verificaciones de antecedentes para comprar armas aumentaron 60% , año en que el gobierno federal declaró la emergencia sanitaria.

Ese mismo año, más de murieron en Estados Unidos, la cifra más alta hasta entonces. En 2021, se volvió a romper .

Las armas vendidas al inicio de la pandemia tenían más probabilidades de terminar en escenas de un crimen al año siguiente, según del Comité Económico Conjunto del Congreso, de mayoría demócrata, que citaba datos de la ATF.

Los fabricantes de armas “utilizaron tácticas de ventas preocupantes” tras tiroteos masivos en Buffalo, Nueva York, y Uvalde, Texas, “sin tomar siquiera medidas básicas para monitorear la violencia y destrucción que sus productos generan”, de acuerdo con un hecho público por los demócratas del Congreso en 2022, después de conocerse una investigación sobre prácticas y beneficios de la industria llevada a cabo por el Comité de Supervisión y Reforma de la Cámara de Representantes (House Oversight and Reform Committee).

Según esta investigación del Congreso, la industria ha publicitado las armas “entre organizaciones supremacistas blancas y extremistas durante años, apelando al miedo a la represión gubernamental contra propietarios de armas y fomentando tensiones raciales”.

“El aumento de la violencia con motivación racial también ha impulsado la compra de armas entre personas negras, lo que permite a la industria lucrar tanto con los supremacistas blancos como con sus objetivos”, señala el informe del Congreso.

En 2024, el entonces gobierno del presidente Joe Biden, a través del Departamento del Interior, otorgó una a la Fundación Nacional de Tiro Deportivo (National Shooting Sports Foundation, NSSF), un importante , para ayudar a las empresas a comercializar armas entre la población negra.

La Comisión Federal de Comercio (FTC, en inglés) es la agencia responsable de proteger a los consumidores de prácticas comerciales engañosas o injustas, y tiene poder para sancionar. Por ejemplo, emitió advertencias a empresas que hicieron afirmaciones falsas sobre productos que supuestamente prevenían o curaban covid.

Pero cuando en 2022, durante el gobierno de Joe Biden, familiares de víctimas de violencia por armas de fuego, legisladores y grupos defensores cómo se promocionaban las armas entre menores, personas de color y grupos supremacistas blancos, la agencia no anunció ninguna acción pública.

Este verano, la NSSF presentó y calificó los intentos de los grupos de control de armas como parte de una “campaña coordinada de guerra legal” contra la publicidad de las armas de fuego, “que está protegida constitucionalmente”.

Mitchell Katz, vocero de la FTC, se negó a comentar, señalando por correo electrónico que la agencia no confirma ni niega la existencia de investigaciones.

Serena Viswanathan, quien se retiró en junio como directora asociada de la FTC, dijo a ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø News que la agencia perdió al menos una cuarta parte del personal de su división de publicidad desde la llegada de Trump a la presidencia en enero.

Las empresas de armas Smith & Wesson, Lone Wolf Arms e Impact Arms no respondieron a solicitudes de comentarios. Tampoco lo hicieron la NSSF ni la Asociación Nacional del Rifle (NRA, en inglés).

En una de agosto de 2022, el presidente y CEO de Smith & Wesson, Mark Smith, dijo que algunos políticos estaban culpando erróneamente a los fabricantes de armas por el aumento de la violencia durante la pandemia, argumentando que las ciudades con altos índices de crimen habían “promovido políticas irresponsables y blandas con el crimen, que a menudo tratan a los criminales como víctimas y a las víctimas como criminales”.

“Ahora algunos buscan prohibir que fabricantes y defensores de la Segunda Enmienda anuncien productos de una manera que recuerde a los ciudadanos respetuosos de la ley que tienen un derecho constitucional a portar armas para defenderse a sí mismos y a sus familias”, añadió Smith.

Armas y raza

En 2015, la NSSF reunió a simpatizantes en una conferencia en Savannah, Georgia, e instó a la industria a diversificar su base de clientes, según un y reportes de y del (Violence Policy Center, VPC).

Chris Cheng, especialista en tiro deportivo, dio una presentación titulada “Diversidad: la próxima gran oportunidad”. Imágenes de la conferencia muestran gráficas que describen la “demografía” y “tecnografía” de tiradores negros e hispanos.

Las gráficas describían a los tiradores negros como “expresivos y seguros socialmente, en el grupo” y “menos propensos a estar casados o a haber terminado la universidad”. A los tiradores hispanos se les consideraba “mucho más confiados en la publicidad y en las celebridades”.

Nick Suplina, vicepresidente de políticas públicas de Comunidades por la Seguridad de las Armas, dijo que el mercadeo de la industria cambió en la segunda mitad del siglo XX, cuando el interés por la caza comenzó a disminuir. El nuevo enfoque: armas para la seguridad personal.

“Dijeron: ‘Necesitamos entrar a nuevos mercados’”, explicó Suplina. “Identificaron a mujeres y personas de color. No tuvieron mucho éxito hasta la pandemia, el movimiento Black Lives Matter y la muerte de George Floyd. El mensaje es: ‘Tú también mereces la Segunda Enmienda’. Están vendiendo el producto como un antídoto al miedo y la ansiedad”.

La investigación del Comité de Supervisión de 2022 criticó duramente a las compañías por promocionar sus productos entre personas de color, mientras la violencia armada sigue siendo una de las principales causas de muerte entre jóvenes afroamericanos e hispanos.

Al mismo tiempo, algunas empresas también promovieron rifles de asalto entre grupos supremacistas blancos que creen que se avecina una guerra racial, según la investigación. Una compañía incluso vendía un rifle tipo AK-47 llamado “Big Igloo Aloha”, en referencia a un movimiento antigubernamental.

Aun así, Philip Smith quiere que más personas negras compren armas para protegerse.

Smith dijo que trabajaba como consultor de recursos humanos cuando se le ocurrió crear la (National African American Gun Association, NAAGA) que ayudó a la Fundación Nacional de Tiro Deportivo (NSSF, en inglés) a preparar su informe sobre cómo comunicarse con consumidores afroamericanos.

Smith alienta a las personas negras a comprar armas para defensa personal y a recibir capacitación adecuada sobre su uso.

Tras 10 años, dijo que su organización tiene cerca de 45.000 miembros en todo el país. La membresía individual cuesta $39 anuales y la de parejas $59, lo que brinda acceso a descuentos de socios corporativos, incluidas empresas fabricantes de armas, y sorteos de armas, según su sitio web.

El asesinato policial de Michael Brown en Ferguson, Missouri, y la muerte a tiros del adolescente Trayvon Martin en Florida impulsaron el interés inicial entre doctores, abogados y otros profesionales, dijo Smith. Pero el verdadero crecimiento se dio durante la pandemia, incluso entre personas demócratas que antes se oponían a tener un arma.

“Cientos de personas me llamaban y decían: ‘No estoy de acuerdo con nada de lo que dices, pero ¿qué tipo de arma debo comprar?’”, recordó Smith.

Smith, que se describe como “callado, nerd y afrocentrista”, dijo que criticar las armas es perder la perspectiva.

“Mis ancestros dieron su sangre para que tengamos este derecho”, afirmó. “¿Hay personas blancas racistas? Sí. Pero deberíamos comprar armas porque hay una necesidad. No porque nos obligan”.

“Amnesia estadounidense”

Durante la pandemia, la violencia con armas de fuego afectó más gravemente a vecindarios racialmente segregados en ciudades como Philadelphia, donde aproximadamente vive en la pobreza.

Un informe de la ciudad indicó que durante un período de un año en la pandemia se registraron más de 2.300 tiroteos, unos seis por día. Muchos por la policía.

Funcionarios de la ciudad señalaron el auge en la venta de armas: en el año 2000 hubo menos de 400.000 ventas en Pennsylvania; en 2020, más de un millón.

Las ventas de armas desde el fin de la pandemia, pero el daño causado persiste.

En una conferencia realizada el año pasado en el estadio del equipo de fútbol americano Eagles, víctimas de esta violencia y sus familiares se reunieron con activistas para compartir relatos de experiencias cercanas a la muerte y del dolor de perder a seres queridos.

Pinturas alrededor del escenario conmemoraban a personas jóvenes, casi todas de color, asesinadas a tiros. Los mensajes decían: “Siempre te amaremos y extrañaremos” y “Los que amamos nunca se van”.

Marion Wilson, activista comunitario, dijo que cree que el país ha olvidado el sufrimiento que ciudades como Philadelphia vivieron durante la pandemia.

“Padecemos la enfermedad de la amnesia estadounidense”, señaló.

Harris regresaba a casa tras su trabajo en Burlington Coat Factory hace casi dos décadas cuando unos asaltantes lo siguieron desde la parada del autobús y le exigieron dinero. Dijo que no tenía y le dispararon.

Harris pasó su infancia arreglando autos con su abuelo, cuando no estaba en la escuela o en la iglesia. Recuerda estar acostado en la cama del hospital, sintiéndose completamente impotente.

“Tuve que volver a aprender a alimentarme solo”, dijo. “Era como un bebé. Tuve que aprender a sentarme para poder usar una silla de ruedas. La única manera en que salí adelante fue con mi fe en Dios”.

Harris pasó años en rehabilitación y recibió terapia por estrés postraumático. Ahora, en silla de ruedas, a veces teme por su seguridad y cree que tener un arma podría ser una de las pocas maneras de protegerse a sí mismo y a su familia.

“Lo estoy pensando”, dijo. “Me da miedo que mi trauma pueda dañar a otra persona. Esa es la única razón por la que aún no la he comprado”.

Si tú mismo o alguien que conoces ha sufrido el dolor de una herida de bala y está dispuesto a hablar sobre la experiencia médica, por favor, completa .

ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about .

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This story can be republished for free (details).

“When you get shot,” he said, “you stop thinking about the future.”

He is anchored by his wife and child and faith. He once wanted to work as a forklift driver but has built a stable career in information technology. He finds camaraderie with other gunshot survivors and in advocacy.

Still, trauma remains lodged in his daily life. As gun violence surged in the shadows of the covid pandemic, it shook Harris’ fragile sense of security. He moved his family out of Philadelphia to a leafy suburb in Delaware. But a nagging fear of crime persists.

Now he is thinking about buying a gun.

Harris is one of tens of thousands of Americans killed or injured each year by gun violence, a public health crisis that escalated in the pandemic and churns a into a hospital emergency room every half hour.

Over the past two decades, the firearm industry has and stepped up sales campaigns through social media influencers, conference presentations, . An industry trade group acknowledged that its traditional customer was “” and in recent years began targeting and who are disproportionately victimized by gun violence.

The Trump administration has moved to reduce federal oversight of gun businesses, announced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as “marked by transparency, accountability, and partnership with the firearms industry.”

The pain of gun violence crosses political, cultural, and geographic divides — but no group has suffered as much as Black people, such as Harris. They were nearly 14 times as likely to die by gun homicide than white people in 2021, , citing federal data. Black men and boys are 6% of the population but of homicide victims.

Washington has offered little relief: Guns remain one of few consumer products the federal government for health and safety.

“The politics of guns in the U.S. are so out of whack with proper priorities that should focus on health and safety and most fundamental rights to live,” said attorney Jon Lowy, founder of , who helped represent Mexico in an unsuccessful lawsuit against Smith & Wesson and other gunmakers that reached the Supreme Court. “The U.S. allows and enables gun industry practices that would be totally unacceptable anywhere else in the world.”

ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø News undertook an examination of gun violence during the pandemic, a period when firearm deaths reached an all-time high. Reporters reviewed academic research, congressional reports, and hospital data and interviewed dozens of gun violence and public health experts, gun owners, and victims or their relatives.

The examination found that while public officials imposed restrictions intended to prevent covid’s spread, politicians and regulators helped fuel gun sales — and another public health crisis.

As state and local governments schools, advised residents to stay home, and closed gyms, theaters, malls, and other businesses to stop covid’s spread, President Donald Trump kept gun stores open, critical to the functioning of society.

White House spokesperson Kush Desai did not respond to interview requests or answer questions about the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce regulation of the firearm industry.

During the pandemic, the federal government gave firearm businesses and groups more than $150 million in financial assistance through the Paycheck Protection Program, even as some businesses reported brisk sales, according to from Everytown for Gun Safety, an advocacy group.

Federal officials said the program would keep people employed, but millions of dollars went to firearm companies that did not say whether it would save any jobs, the report said.

About bought a gun during the first two years of the pandemic, including millions of first-time buyers, according to survey data from NORC at the University of Chicago.

Harris is keenly aware of what drives the demand.

“Guns aren’t going away unless we get to the root of people’s fears,” he said.

most Americans who own a gun feel it makes them safer. But public health data suggests that owning a gun of homicide and triples chances of suicide in a home.

“There’s no evidence that guns provide an increase in protection,” said Kelly Drane, research director for the . “We have been told a fundamental lie.”

Record Deaths

Less than a year into the pandemic, 20-year-old Jacquez Anlage was shot dead in a Jacksonville, Florida, apartment. Five years later, the killing remains unsolved.

His mother, Crystal Anlage, said she fell to her knees and wailed in grief on her lawn when police delivered the news.

She said Jacquez overcame years in the foster care system — living in 36 homes — before she and her husband, Matt, adopted him at age 16.

Jacquez Anlage had just moved into his own apartment when he was shot. He loved animals and wanted to become a veterinary technician. He was kind and loving, Crystal Anlage said, with the 6-foot-4, 215-pound physique of the football and basketball player he’d been.

“He was just getting to a point in life where he felt safe,” Crystal Anlage said.

Gun violence researchers say parents like Crystal Anlage carry trauma that destroys their sense of security.

Anlage said she endures post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety. She is terrified of guns and fireworks.

But she has made something meaningful of her son’s killing: She co-founded the Jacksonville Survivors Foundation, which works to raise awareness about the impact of homicide and to support grieving parents.

“Jacquez’s death can’t be in vain,” she said. “I want his legacy to be love.”

His legacy and that of other young men killed by guns is muted by firearm manufacturers’ powerful message of fear.

During the pandemic, gun marketers told Americans they needed firearms to defend themselves against criminals, protesters, unreliable cops, and , filed by gun control advocacy groups with the Federal Trade Commission.

In a since-deleted June 18, 2020, from Lone Wolf Arms, an Idaho-based manufacturer, a protester is depicted being confronted by police officers in riot gear between the words “Defund Police? Defend Yourself,” the petition shows. The caption says, “10% to 25% off demo guns and complete pistols.”

Impact Arms, an online gun seller, on Instagram on Aug. 3, 2020, showing a person putting a rifle in a backpack, the document says. “The world is pretty crazy right now,” the caption reads. “Not a bad idea to pack something more efficient than a handgun.”

The National Rifle Association in 2020 posted on YouTube a of a Black woman holding a rifle and telling viewers they need a gun in the pandemic. “You might be stockpiling up on food right now to get through this current crisis,” she said, “but if you aren’t preparing to defend your property when everything goes wrong, you’re really just stockpiling for somebody else.”

The messaging worked. Background checks for firearm sales soared 60% from , the year the federal government declared a public health emergency.

The same year, more than , the highest number up till then. In 2021, was broken again.

Weapons sold at the beginning of the pandemic were more likely to wind up at crime scenes within a year than in any previous period, according to by Democrats on Congress’ Joint Economic Committee, citing ATF data.

Gun manufacturers “used disturbing sales tactics” following mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, “while failing to take even basic steps to monitor the violence and destruction their products have unleashed,” according to a released by congressional Democrats in July 2022 following a House Oversight and Reform Committee investigation of industry practices and profits.

The firearm industry has marketed “to white supremacist and extremist organizations for years, playing on fears of government repression against gun owners and fomenting racial tensions,” the House investigation said. “The increase in racially motivated violence has also led to rising rates of gun ownership among Black Americans, allowing the industry to profit from both white supremacists and their targets.”

In 2024, then-President Joe Biden’s Department of the Interior provided a to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a leading , to help companies market guns to Black Americans.

The Federal Trade Commission is responsible for protecting consumers from deceptive and unfair business practices and has the power to take enforcement action. It issued warnings to companies that made unsubstantiated claims their products could prevent or treat covid, for instance.

But when families of gun violence victims, lawmakers, and advocacy groups in 2022, during Biden’s term, how firearms were marketed to children, people of color, and groups that espouse white supremacy, officials did not announce any public action.

This summer, the National Shooting Sports Foundation pressed its and derided “a coordinated ‘lawfare’ campaign” that it said gun control groups have waged against “constitutionally-protected firearm advertising.”

FTC spokesperson Mitchell Katz declined to comment, saying in an email that the agency does not acknowledge or deny the existence of investigations.

Serena Viswanathan, who retired as an FTC associate director in June, told ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø News that the agency lost at least a quarter of the staff in its advertising practices division after Trump came into office in January.

Gun companies Smith & Wesson, Lone Wolf Arms, and Impact Arms did not respond to requests for comment. Neither did the National Shooting Sports Foundation or the NRA.

In an August 2022 , Smith & Wesson President and CEO Mark Smith said gun manufacturers were being wrongly blamed by some politicians for the pandemic surge in violence, saying cities experiencing violent crime had “promoted irresponsible, soft-on-crime policies that often treat criminals as victims and victims as criminals.”

He added, “Some now seek to prohibit firearm manufacturers and supporters of the 2nd Amendment from advertising products in a manner designed to remind law-abiding citizens that they have a Constitutional right to bear arms in defense of themselves and their families.”

Guns and Race

In 2015, the National Shooting Sports Foundation gathered supporters at a conference in Savannah, Georgia, and urged the firearm industry to diversify its customer base, according to a and reports from and the .

Competitive shooter Chris Cheng gave a presentation called “Diversity: The Next Big Opportunity.” Screenshots from the conference include slides purporting to show “demographics,” “psychographics,” and “technographics” of Black and Hispanic shooters.

The slides described Black shooters as “expressive and confident socially, in a crowd” and “less likely to be married and to be a college grad.” They said Hispanic shooters were “much more trusting of advertising and celebrities.”

Nick Suplina, senior vice president for law and policy at Everytown for Gun Safety, said industry marketing shifted in the latter half of the 20th century as the popularity of hunting declined. The new sales pitch: guns for personal safety.

“They said, ‘We need to break into new markets,’” Suplina said. “They identified women and people of color. They didn’t have a lot of success until the pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the death of George Floyd. The marketing says, ‘You deserve the Second Amendment too.’ They are selling the product as an antidote to fear and anxiety.”

Gun manufacturers were harshly criticized in the Oversight Committee’s 2022 investigation for marketing products to people of color, as gun violence remains a leading cause of death for young Black and Latino men.

At the same time, some companies also promoted assault rifles to white supremacist groups who believe a race war is imminent, the investigation found. One company sold an AK-47-style rifle called the “Big Igloo Aloha,” a reference to an anti-government movement, it said.

Still, Philip Smith wants more Black people to get guns for protection.

Smith said he was working as a human resources consultant a decade ago when he got the idea to form the , which helped the National Shooting Sports Foundation compile its report on communicating with Black consumers.

Smith encourages Black people to buy firearms for self-defense and get proper training on how to use them.

After 10 years, Smith said, his group has about 45,000 members nationwide. Single members pay $39 a year and couples $59, which gives them access to discounts from the organization’s corporate partners, including gunmakers, and raffles for gun giveaways, according to its website.

The police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and the shooting death of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin helped spark early interest from doctors, lawyers, and others in joining the group, he said. But interest took off during the pandemic, he said, even among Democrats who had resisted the idea of owning a gun.

“Hundreds of people called me and said, ‘I don’t agree with anything you’re saying, but what kind of gun should I buy,’” Smith recalled.

Smith, describing himself as “quiet, nerdy, and Afrocentric,” said criticism of guns misses the point.

“My ancestors bled for us to have this right,” he said. “Are there some racist white people? Yes. But we should buy guns because there is a need. No one is forcing us to buy guns.”

‘American Amnesia’

During the pandemic, gun violence took its greatest toll on racially segregated neighborhoods in places such as Philadelphia, where roughly residents live in poverty.

A says a one-year period in the pandemic saw more than 2,300 shootings, or about six a day. Many of the cases haven’t been solved by police.

City officials cited the boom in gun sales in the report: Fewer than 400,000 sales took place in Pennsylvania in 2000, but in 2020 it was more than 1 million.

Gun sales since the pandemic ended, but the harm they’ve caused persists.

At a conference last year inside the Eagles’ football stadium, victims of firearm violence or their relatives joined activists to share accounts of near-death experiences and the grief of losing loved ones.

Paintings flanked the stage and the meeting space to commemorate people who had been fatally shot, nearly all young people of color, under messages such as “You are loved and missed forever” and “Those we love never leave.”

Marion Wilson, a community activist, said he believes the nation has forgotten the suffering Philadelphia and other cities endured during the pandemic.

“We suffer from the disease of American amnesia,” he said.

Harris was on his way home from a job at Burlington Coat Factory nearly two decades ago when robbers followed him from a bus stop and demanded money. He said he had none and was shot.

Harris had spent his early life fixing cars with his grandfather, when he wasn’t at school or attending church. He remembers lying in a hospital bed, overcome with a sense of helplessness.

“I had to learn to feed myself again,” he said. “I was like a baby. I had to learn to sit up so I could use a wheelchair. The only way I got through it was my faith in God.”

Harris endured years of rehabilitation and counseling for PTSD. As someone in a wheelchair, he said, he sometimes fears for his safety — and a gun may be one of the few ways to protect himself and his family.

“I’m mulling it over,” Harris said. “I’m afraid of my trauma hurting someone else. That’s the only reason I haven’t gotten one yet.”

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That includes about 8,400 cases involving allegations of discrimination against students with disabilities, who have struggled to recover academically from the pandemic.Ìý

Under , public schools must provide children with disabilities a “free appropriate public education,” to give them the same opportunity to learn as other kids.Ìý

But pleas for federal intervention are in limbo as President Donald Trump’s administration moves to dismantle the Education Department.Ìý

The agency helps oversee schools and colleges and has the authority to protect students from discrimination based on race, sex, religion, or disability. Its Office for Civil Rights investigates accusations against schools and negotiates corrective actions.Ìý

On March 11, the it was reducing its workforce by nearly half. Authorities closed seven of the 12 regional civil rights offices, leaving behind too few staffers to investigate thousands of cases, according to attorneys and advocates for disabled people.Ìý

“We had problems already, and now we are going to have more problems,” said Hannah Russell, a former special education teacher who works with parents in North Carolina trying to obtain educational services for their children with disabilities. The civil rights office is “the only thing that upholds accountability.” 

In March, Trump signed an to eliminate the Education Department, which he said had failed children and become a bloated bureaucracy.Ìý

He instructed officials to “return authority over education to the States and local communities while ensuring the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely.” 

A group of states and the District of Columbia has sued to halt the cuts, but the Supreme Court ruled in July that the Trump administration could forge ahead while the case moves through the courts. But parents like Emma Miller of North Carolina fear there will be no authority left to intervene on their behalf.Ìý

Miller filed a complaint with the federal Office for Civil Rights against the public school system in Wake County, alleging her two kids were denied their civil rights. She said her son is in 10th grade but cannot read or write. His twin sister was bullied by classmates and became suicidal, Miller said.Ìý

Wake County school officials declined an interview to answer questions about Miller’s complaints, citing privacy laws. In a written statement, spokesperson Matthew Dees said the district worked to reach an agreement with Miller on multiple issues and remedied complaints that were substantiated.Ìý

Federal officials refused to investigate, according to a letter she received in March. Spokespeople for the Education Department and the White House declined to comment.Ìý

“No one is taking responsibility,” Miller said. “It has been a nightmare.” 

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Under federal law, public schools must provide children with disabilities a “,” to give them the same opportunity to learn as other kids.

The twins’ mother, Emma Miller, and tens of thousands of other parents in the U.S. have elevated complaints to the Education Department alleging that schools and states have ignored mistreatment of their children. Those complaints are in limbo as President Donald Trump’s administration has set about dismantling the federal agency.

Trump once . Earlier this year, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s inaccurate remarks about people with autism were criticized as perpetuating offensive stereotypes.

Now people like Miller are worried their children will be left behind.

“I want justice for my twins, and to sound the alarm so other special needs children are not suffering or being deprived,” said Miller, 53, who lives with her twins in Wake Forest, North Carolina.

The Education Department, which was created in 1979 and helps oversee schools and colleges in the U.S., has the authority to protect students from discrimination based on race, sex, religion, or disability. Its Office for Civil Rights investigates allegations at schools and negotiates corrective actions.

As the school year begins, families throughout the country are unsure what authority will be left to intervene on their behalf if the office is shuttered, said Hannah Russell, an advocate who works with parents in North Carolina trying to obtain educational services for their children with disabilities.

“Without the Department of Education there is no accountability,” said Russell, a former special education teacher. “Everybody is scared.”

Miller described her twins as her “miracle babies” who survived despite each . Danielle Price spent the first five months of her life in a neonatal intensive care unit, and her brother, Devon, the first seven months.

She has spent years fighting for them, repeatedly taking on local and state school officials. But even when she notched victories, she said, her children did not get the help they were promised.

Miller said her children are high-functioning and verbal. She said they could have thrived academically if the school system had given them proper services.

“My children have suffered,” Miller wrote in a complaint she filed in September 2024. “The most vulnerable group of children [is] being denied a basic education.”

‘Unusual and Unprecedented’

Miller says her daughter began to self-harm after classmates teased and tormented her and staff secluded her away from her bullies. The Wake County Public School System assigned Devon to a classroom with an instructional assistant who was not a licensed teacher, a violation of policy, according to state documents.

Last year, Miller filed a complaint against Wake County schools with the federal Office for Civil Rights. She alleged the district did not reevaluate her kids to determine their special education needs, did not respond for months to her records requests, and retaliated against her by wrongly withdrawing the twins from the school district.

Wake County schools violated policy when staff did not address the effects of bullying on Danielle, says an April 2024 letter from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

The school system’s education plan for Danielle “was not appropriate considering the student’s unmet social-emotional needs, which resulted in the student’s increased anxiety,” the letter says.

State officials concluded in June 2024 that the school system failed to develop, review, and revise an education plan for Devon, assigned him to a teacher assistant instead of a licensed teacher, and did not provide technology that could help him learn, according to documents.

While the decisions validated Miller’s concerns, she said that the district continues to violate her children’s rights and that the state is now ignoring her pleas for help.

“No one is taking responsibility,” she told ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø News. “It has been a nightmare.”

But after she appealed to the federal government last year, the Education Department sent her a letter in March saying it would not look into the complaint.

For decades, parents and advocates for people with disabilities have said the system makes it difficult for them to win against school districts, because the process is often time-consuming, confusing, and, if a family hires a lawyer, expensive. Now they say families could soon face even bigger hurdles.

On March 11, the day the Education Department sent Miller’s denial letter, it was firing nearly half its 4,133 employees. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the move was “a significant step toward restoring the greatness of the United States education system.”

Officials shuttered seven of the 12 regional offices of the agency’s Office for Civil Rights, leaving a skeleton staff to investigate thousands of complaints filed each year, according to attorneys and advocates for the disabled.

Trump, acting on a campaign promise to shrink the federal government, later signed an to eliminate the Education Department, which he said had failed children and built a bloated bureaucracy.

The president instructed officials to “return authority over education to the States and local communities while ensuring the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely.”

Parents and advocacy groups say that would allow local authorities to police themselves at a time when schools remain , some selective colleges accept male applicants at than female applicants, and students with disabilities are from the covid pandemic, more so than their peers. Also, they note, the federal laws protecting disabled and disadvantaged children emerged because of .

Under , children with disabilities should be reevaluated by schools every three years to help determine their individual needs. But Miller said Wake County officials for nearly a decade refused her requests to have her kids reevaluated. She said it finally happened in late 2024.

“I never expected getting an education for my children would be such a problem,” Miller said.

The Education Law Center, the NAACP, and other advocacy groups have sued to stop Trump’s plans, alleging the changes are illegal and pose a threat to the education of students from vulnerable groups. Some 20 states and the District of Columbia sued to halt the plan, but the Supreme Court ruled in July that the Trump administration could move ahead while the case proceeded through the courts.

Russell said she has heard North Carolina school districts are promising to provide accommodations for students with disabilities, such as extra time on tests.

But families who cannot afford to hire an attorney could find themselves at a disadvantage when disagreements arise over services that cost districts more money, Russell said.

The Trump administration has decimated the Office for Civil Rights’ ability to properly investigate a backlog of thousands of complaints, said Robert Kim, who leads the Education Law Center.

The office reported receiving nearly , the highest number ever. About 8,400, or 37%, involved allegations of disability discrimination.

Black children and those with disabilities may suffer the worst consequences, since they disproportionately face harsh discipline at school, including physical restraint and isolation in seclusion rooms, Kim said.

The Education Department says children with disabilities but 75% of those secluded and 81% of those physically restrained.

Black children constitute about 15% of students but 42% of those who are mechanically restrained using a device or equipment.

“Something unusual and unprecedented is happening,” Kim said about what he sees as a shift in the federal government’s responsibility to keep children safe and provide a high-quality education.

The Education Department’s press office declined an interview request for this story in an unsigned email that was copied to agency officials Madison Biedermann, Savannah Newhouse, Julie Hartman, and Ellen Keast.

White House spokesperson Kush Desai did not respond to a request for comment.

In a , McMahon said her agency is performing all of its duties: “We will carry out the reduction in force to promote efficiency and accountability and to ensure resources are directed where they matter most — to students, parents, and teachers.”

‘Nothing but Problems’

Danielle and Devon Price entered 10th grade at Wake Forest High School in August. Their mother said she is uncertain what will happen to them.

Danielle wants to go to college, but her math skills are at a fourth-grade level, school records show.

Like many youths with autism, Danielle struggles with changes in routine, and her mother said she became despondent when school officials repeatedly changed her classes to keep her away from a boy who bullied her. Soon after that, Danielle started to self-harm, Miller said, adding that her daughter receives intensive therapy.

“It has been nothing but problems” with Wake County schools, she said. “It is like no one cares.”

Wake County school officials declined to answer questions about Miller’s complaints, citing privacy laws.

In a written statement, district spokesperson Matthew Dees said that “the school district has worked hard to reach agreement with Ms. Miller on many issues” and remedied complaints that were substantiated.

“The district disputes the remaining allegations in the various complaints she has raised, including the many accusations against various staff,” Dees added.

Under federal law, parents have 180 days from the time of the last alleged violation to file a complaint with the Education Department. Miller submitted her complaint Sept. 12, 2024, exactly 180 days after she says her twins were last denied a “free appropriate public education.”

But the Office for Civil Rights said that was too late. Officials declined to waive the time limit for Miller, who had asked for an exception, according to its March denial letter.

She said she spent months fighting with Wake County school officials and did not turn to federal government sooner because she hoped she could resolve the issues locally.

Miller fears for her children’s future unless something changes at school.

“I’m a single parent, and one day I won’t be here,” she said. “My kids are going to be adults soon, yet my son doesn’t know how to read and write. I’m like, ‘Wow.’ There really is no help here.”

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She found Forbes face down in the street in August 2023, two weeks before he had planned to move away from the empty storefronts, boarded-up houses, and poverty that make this one of the most troubled places in the nation.

Naketra Guy thought about how her son overcame losing his father at age 4 and was the glue of the family. She called him “humble” and “respectful,” a leader in the community and on the football field, where he shined.

Yet he could not outrun the grim statistics of his hometown. Bogalusa posts some of the worst health outcomes and poverty in Louisiana, a state that routinely ranks among the worst nationally in both. And Bogalusa has endured another indicator of poor public health: high levels of gun violence.

Since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic, gun violence has shattered any sense of peace or progress here. Louisiana suffers the nation’s second-highest firearm — and Bogalusa, a predominantly Black community with 10,000 residents, has seen dozens of shootings and a violent crime rate approaching twice the national average.

A nearby team refused to play football at Bogalusa High School in fall 2022, .

Bogalusa’s mayor, Tyrin Truong, was elected in 2022 at age 23 on his promises to fix entrenched challenges: few youth programs and good jobs, and perpetual crime and blight.

“I ran for mayor because I got sick of seeing our city painted as mini-New Orleans,” he said, “due to the high levels of youth gun violence.”

In January, the Louisiana State Police , accusing him of soliciting a prostitute and participating in a drug trafficking ring that allegedly used illicit proceeds to buy firearms. He has . “I still haven’t been formally arraigned,” he told ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø News in late July, “and I haven’t been charged with anything.”

Every year tens of thousands of Americans — — are killed by gun violence on the scale of a public health epidemic.

Many thousands more are left to recover from severe injuries, crushing medical debt, and the mental health toll of losing loved ones.

Most headlines focus on America’s urban centers, but the numbers also reflect the growth of gun violence in places like Bogalusa, a pinprick of a town 75 miles north of New Orleans. In 2020, the gun violence death rate for rural communities than in large metropolitan areas, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Firearms are the No. 1 killer of children in the U.S., and no group suffers more than . More Black boys and men ages 15 to 24 in 2023 than from the next 15 leading causes of deaths combined. Though overall U.S. homicides after the pandemic ended, adolescent gun deaths climbed even higher in the years after, according to , an associate professor in the School of Public Health at Boston University.

“It has all the markers of an epidemic. It is a major driver of death and disability,” Jay said. “Gun violence does not get the attention it deserves. It is underrecognized because it disproportionately impacts Black and brown people.”

Rather than bolstering efforts to save lives, federal, state, and local government officials have undermined them. ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø News undertook an examination of gun violence since the pandemic, a period when firearm death rates surged. Reporters reviewed government reports and academic research and interviewed dozens of health policy experts, activists, and victims or their relatives. They reviewed corporate earnings reports from gun manufacturers and to politicians.

In polling published in 2023 by KFF, said they or a family member had been impacted by gun violence such as by seeing a shooting or being threatened, injured, or killed with a gun.

American politicians and regulators have put in place laws and practices that have helped enrich firearm and ammunition manufacturers — which tout — even as already damaged by white flight, systemic disinvestment, and other forms of racial discrimination.

President Donald Trump championed gun rights on the campaign trail and has from the National Rifle Association, , “No one will lay a finger on your firearms.” His administration has rolled back efforts under President Joe Biden to address the rise in gun violence.

Emboldened in his second term, Trump to in schools, weaken federal oversight of the gun industry, override state and local gun laws, permit sales , and cut funding for violence intervention.

Trump to review all Biden administration actions that “purport to promote safety but may have impinged on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.”

The Biden administration said “” during the pandemic took its greatest toll on racially segregated and high-poverty neighborhoods.

Black youths in four major cities were as white ones to experience a firearm assault, research showed. Gun suicides reached an all-time high, and for the first time the firearm suicide rate among older Black teens surpassed that of older white teens.

In Bogalusa, the pandemic gun violence spread fear. Among the victims killed were a 15-year-old attending a birthday party and a 24-year-old nationally known musician. Thirteen people were injured at a memorial for a man who himself had been shot. Residents said neighbors stopped sitting in their yards because of stray bullets.

Researchers say communities like Bogalusa endure a collective trauma that shatters their sense of safety. Two years after , his mother says that when she leaves home her surviving children worry that she, too, might get shot.

Repercussions from the surge will last years, researchers said: Exposure to shootings increases risk for post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, suicide, depression, substance abuse, and poor school performance for survivors and those who live near them.

“We saw gun violence exposure go up for every group of children except white children, in the cities we studied,” Jay said. “Limits on government funding into gun violence research may stop us from ever knowing exactly why.”

Politics of Pain

The year before Forbes died in Bogalusa, Biden signed into law the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, considered the in decades.

In a matter of months, Trump has systematically dismantled key provisions.

Efforts to regulate guns have long proven ineffective against the power of political and business interests that fill the streets with weapons. In 2020, the number of guns manufactured annually in the U.S. hit 11.3 million, more than double a decade earlier, according to . In 2022, the United States had nearly 78,000 , more than its combined number of McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, and Subway locations, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, an advocacy group.

The Biden administration it would attempt to reduce gun violence by adopting a “zero tolerance” policy toward firearm dealers who committed violations such as failing to run a required background check or selling to someone prohibited from buying a gun.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or ATF, which licenses gun dealers, has the authority to enforce laws meant to prevent illegal gun sales. In issuing an executive order, the Trump administration , under Biden, the agency targeted “mom-and-pop shop small businesses who made innocent paperwork errors.”

From October 2010 to February 2022, the agency conducted more than 111,000 inspections, recommending revocation of a dealer’s license only 589 times, about 0.5% of cases, an inspector general’s report said. Even when it cited serious violations, the ATF rarely shut dealers down.

ATF leaders that recommendations for license revocations increased after Biden’s zero-tolerance policy was implemented. In April, the Trump administration .

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy last year declared firearm violence a public health crisis. Within weeks of Trump’s inauguration, the advisory. Of the 15 leading U.S. causes of death, firearm injuries received less research funding from the National Institutes of Health for each person who died than all but poisoning and falls, according to in 2024 by Brady, an anti-gun violence organization. that funding, too.

Trump’s Department of Justice abruptly cut 373 grants in April for projects worth about $820 million, with a large share from gun violence intervention.

“We are going to lose a generation of community violence prevention folks,” said Volkan Topalli, a gun violence researcher at Georgia State University. “People are going to die, I’m sorry to say, but that is the bleak truth of this.”

Asked about its policies, the White House did not address questions about public health considerations around gun violence.

“Illegal violence of any sort is a crime issue, and President Trump has been clear since Day One that he is committed to Making America Safe Again by empowering law enforcement to uphold law and order,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai said.

Trump administration officials “want safer streets and less violence,” Topalli said. “They are hurting their cause.”

Garen Wintemute, an emergency medicine professor who directs the violence prevention program at the University of California-Davis, was among the first in the nation to consider guns and violence as a public health issue. He said race plays a significant role in perceptions about gun violence.

“People look at the demographic risk for firearm homicide and depending on the demographics of the people in the audience, I can see the transformation in their faces,” Wintemute said. “It’s like they’re saying, ‘Not my people, not my problem.’”

Eroding Gun Restrictions

Trump’s incursions against public health efforts to contain gun violence are backed by lobbying power.

Firearm industry advocacy groups made millions of dollars in political donations in recent years, mostly to conservative causes and Republican candidates. That includes $1.4 million to Trump, , which tracks campaign finance data.

The assassination of civil rights icon the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. helped lead to the passage of the federal , which imposed stricter licensing rules and outlawed the sale of firearms and ammunition to felons.

While it remains the law of the land, over time, federal and state government actions have significantly weakened its protections.

Most states now concealed weapons without a permit or background check, even though the practice can increase the risk of firearm homicides.

In Louisiana, Democratic former Gov. John Bel Edwards, in office from 2016 to 2024, that would have allowed people to carry concealed firearms without a permit.

Elected in 2023, Republican Gov. Jeff Landry to allow any person over age 18 to conceal-carry without a permit.

The Trump administration has created his executive order to end most gun regulations and which would allow more people with criminal convictions, including for domestic abuse, to own guns.

Figures vary, but some researchers estimate as many as 500 million guns circulate in the U.S. Sales reached during the pandemic and publicly traded firearm and ammunition companies saw .

Donald Trump Jr. this summer of GrabAGun, an online gun retailer that went public in July under the stock ticker PEW. In a , the company, which markets guns to people ages 18 to 44, cited “ organizations that oppose sales of firearms and ammunition” as threats to its sales growth.

Dave Workman, a gun rights advocate with the , said firearms are not to blame for the surge in pandemic shootings.

“Bad guys are going to do what bad guys are going to do regardless of the law,” Workman said. “Taking away gun rights is not going to reduce crime.”

David Yamane, a Wake Forest University sociology professor and national authority on guns, said the U.S. firearm debate is complex and the industry is often “painted with too broad a brush.”

Most guns will never be used to kill anyone, he said. Americans tend to buy more guns during times of unrest, Yamane added: “It’s part of the American tradition. Guns are seen as a legitimate tool for defending yourself.”

‘A Low Level of Hope’

Once called “,” Bogalusa has become a grim symbol of deindustrialization.

Bogalusa emerged as Black people formed their own communities in the time of Jim Crow racial segregation at the turn of the 20th century.

Racism concentrated Black people in neighborhoods that , reflected in high rates of cancer, asthma, chronic stress, preterm births, pregnancy-related complications — and, over recent decades, .

Thousands flocked to Bogalusa after the Great Southern Lumber Company built one of the world’s biggest sawmills, establishing Bogalusa as a company town. Racial tensions .

Members of the local gained national attention in the 1960s for protecting civil rights organizers from the Ku Klux Klan, that burned houses and churches, terrorizing and killing Black people.

As the mill changed hands over the decades, Bogalusa’s fortunes slid. In the mid-20th century, the population surpassed 20,000, but it is now about half that.

International Paper, based in Tennessee, runs the mill as a containerboard factory, employing about 650 people. In 2021, the state announced incentives for the company that included a $500,000 tax break, saying the move would help bring “prosperity.”

Businesses remain boarded up along the main drag. Houses still bear damage from Hurricane Katrina, and many streets are eerily quiet.

Nearly 1 in 3 people in Bogalusa live in poverty — 2½ times the national average.

Bogalusa’s violent gun crime rate people in 2022, higher than Louisiana’s and 1.7 times the national one, according to the nonprofit Equal Justice USA, citing FBI Uniform Crime Reporting data.

In many rural towns across the South, “there is a level of desperation that is more apparent” than in other parts of the U.S., said , a of social justice and public policy.

“They don’t have the same infrastructure to have robust social services. People are like, ‘What are my life chances?’” Shaefer said. “People feel like there is nothing that can be done. There is a low level of hope.”

Missed Opportunities

Mayor Truong lamented the violence in Bogalusa after Forbes was killed, , “When are we as a community going to come together and decide enough is enough?”

The federal government had offered one path forward.

The Biden administration provided billions of dollars to local governments through the American Rescue Plan Act during the pandemic. Biden urged them to deploy money to community violence intervention programs, shown to by as much as 60%.

A handful of cities seized the opportunity, but most did not. Bogalusa has received since 2021. None appears to have gone toward violence prevention.

The Louisiana legislative auditor, Michael Waguespack, found that Bogalusa used nearly $500,000 for employee bonuses, which his report said may have violated state law. In some cases, says, payments were not tied to work performed.

Bogalusa officials did not respond to a public records request from ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø News seeking detailed information about its ARPA money.

Former Mayor Wendy O’Quin-Perrette, who served from 2015 through early 2023, told Waguespack that the city used ARPA money to improve streets and pay the bonuses. “We would not have done it without being sure it was allowed,” she said.

O’Quin-Perrette did not respond to requests for comment.

In a to Waguespack, O’Quin-Perrette’s successor, Truong, wrote that Bogalusa officials didn’t know how the federal money was spent. When he took office, Truong alleged, officials discovered “tens of thousands of dollars of checks and cash” stashed “in various drawers and on desks” in city offices.

Truong defended his stewardship of ARPA funds, saying that about $1 million remained when he assumed office but that the money was needed for more urgent sewer infrastructure repairs. “I wish we could have invested more, invested any money in gun violence prevention efforts,” he said.

In an interview, Truong said the city has been “intentional” about bringing down gun violence, including through a summer jobs program. He pointed to statistics that show homicides decreased from nine in 2022 to two in 2024. “If you keep them busy, they won’t have time to do anything else,” he said.

Asked about his January arrest, Truong said he has political enemies.

“I’m the only Democrat in a very red part of the state, and, you know, I’ve made a lot of changes at City Hall, and that ticks people off,” Truong told ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø News. He said that he ended long-standing city contracts with local businesspeople. “When you’re shaking up power structures, you become a target.”

Josie Alexander, for , said city officials missed an opportunity when they didn’t use ARPA funds for gun violence prevention. “The sad thing is people here can now see that money was coming in,” she said. “But it just wasn’t used the way it needed to be.”

‘Too Much Trouble Here’

Truong said the city is still reeling from the . He said he was at Bogalusa High School’s homecoming football game in 2022 when one teen shot another. Shots rang out, Truong said, and he grabbed his 3-month-old son and “laid in the bleachers.”

“It’s not a foreign topic to hardly anybody in town, whether you’ve heard the gunshots in the distance, whether you have attended a funeral of somebody who passed due to gun violence,” he said. Many still grapple with trauma.

In December 2022, Khlilia Daniels said, she hosted a birthday party for her teenage niece, praying no one would bring a gun.

The hosts checked guests for weapons, she said.

Yet gunfire erupted, Daniels said. Three teens were shot, including , who died, according to police.

“When someone you know is killed, you never forget,” said Daniels, 32, who held Taylor until emergency responders arrived.

Tajdryn Forbes was planning his future when he , likely because of a dispute that started on social media over lyrics in a rap song, Guy said.

In a in January, Bogalusa police said they had arrested someone in connection with Forbes’ killing. Authorities had the arrest of a teen in connection with the homicide.

Forbes had been a high school football standout, like his late father, Charles Forbes Jr., who played semipro. When Forbes scored a touchdown, he would look to the sky to honor his dad.

The school praised Forbes for his senior baseball season in : “This young man makes a difference on our campus and on the field with his strong character.”

When hopes for a college football scholarship did not pan out, Forbes worked as a deckhand for a marine transportation company. He saved money, looking forward to moving to Slidell, a suburb of New Orleans.

“He would always say, ‘There’s too much trouble here’” in Bogalusa, Guy recalled.

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