Why ‘Good Guys with Guns’ Don’t Make Us Safer

Right-to-Carry Laws Increase Firearm Theft and Reduce Police Effectiveness—Which Leads to More Violent Crime

In June 2022, the United States Supreme Court ushered in a new era of gun regulation when it struck down New York’s century-old concealed carry law. The New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen decision paved the way for the right to carry a concealed firearm in public to become the law of the land.

Debates around right-to-carry pit the argument that a “good guy with a gun” can prevent crimes against concerns about an increased threat of gun violence, with research generally supporting the latter.  Many policymakers …

Newsom’s Gun Control Amendment Is the Most Important Idea in U.S. Politics

A Violent Country Desperately Needs Constitutional Protection to Fight This Epidemic. How Serious Is the Governor?

Gavin Newsom’s new campaign for a 28th Amendment is the most important political idea in the country today.

But you wouldn’t know that from reading media reports following the California governor’s …

An altar to the victims of the Monterey Park shooting. Flowers, candles, small pictuers, and notes fill the table. Above the altar are three larger photos of three different victims, framed with flowers.

What Mourning Looks Like in Monterey Park

Bound by a Culture of Welcoming ‘Immigrants and Lost Ones,’ a Community Comes Together in the Wake of a Mass Shooting

On a radiantly sunny afternoon in late January, I visited the parking lot of Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park. It had been less than a week since a …

Our Favorite Events of 2021

New Ideas, a New Home, and a New Hybrid Event Format Connected Us With Angelenos—and Audiences Around the World

Over 18 years and 650 events since we hosted our inaugural Zócalo event in 2003, Zócalo Public Square remains as fiercely committed as ever to bringing people together around ideas. …

Why Hawai‘i Has America’s Lowest Rates of Gun Violence

It’s a Combination of Relative Prosperity, Isolation, Unique Culture—and Tough Laws

Every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control, 33,000 Americans die from violence linked to guns. Massacres like the February shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School have become …