What We’re Reading: One of America’s Greatest Drops in Gun Violence — Ever

Welcome back to our weekly behind-the-scenes glimpse at what’s getting our team talking. Tell us what you ve been reading at info@reasonstobecheerful.world and we just might feature it here. People power America is unique among wealthy countries in its endless struggle with gun violence. Schools prepare their youngest for it, communities grieve over it, and basic, sensible gun control laws seem ever out of reach.

Despite this, according to new analysis by The Trace s Gun Violence Data Hub, shared by RTBC s Executive Editor Will Doig, gun violence is trending downward for more than three quarters of cities with the most shootings. For more than half of those cities, the rate of decrease is even greater than it was last year, when the drop in gun homicides broke all previous records.

This trend spans red and blue cities, in red and blue states, in all of the country’s regions. And, say experts, it s all thanks to people teachers, counselors, after-school program staff, basketball coaches, violence interrupters and everyone else fighting gun violence on the front lines.

Will says: New York, Reasons to be Cheerful s home, is safer from gun violence than it s ever been. The first nine months of 2025 saw the fewest shooting incidents in the city s history. Apparently this is a nationwide trend. It s proof that U.S.

cities don t need military intervention, they need a pat on the back for impressive progress on public safety. A breath of fresh air As tens of thousands of delegates gather in Brazil for another day at COP30, the latest U.N. climate change conference, there are innumerable local organizers around the world fighting climate change on their doorsteps. For Los Angeles native Iretha Warmsley, putting an end to the extraction of crude oil just a few yards away from the homes of thousands of mainly Black and Latino people in her South LA community is the goal.

In campaigning for this, reports Capital B in an article shared by RTBC Interim Editorial Director Tess Riley, Warmsley and other Black women across the county are leading a movement that prioritizes community health, equitable redevelopment and reparative justice. And it s working. Last year, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed in state law AB 3233 ensuring local governments retained authority to restrict oil and gas operations, alongside a companion bill requiring 1,000 idle wells per year to be capped statewide.

The law clarified that cities and counties can prohibit oil drilling to protect public health. “I want to see a new normal where everyone has clean air to breathe, where we put health above oil profits, and where we build vibrant communities that are resilient to climate change, said Warmsley.

That starts at the local level.” Tess says: With COP30 s notably absent global leaders, and vested interests working hard to delay even abandon climate action, it s easy to forget that most of the world wants stronger climate action. The work Warmsley and other community organizers are doing to reclaim their neighborhoods is an inspiring reminder that local action has the power to lead to global change.

What else we’re reading It Was a Very Good Election for the Climate  shared by Executive Editor Will Doig from Grist A Prison Hospice Program for the Living and the Dying shared by Contributing Editor Michaela Haas from The New York Times Minecraft Opens Powerful New World for Child and Teen Therapy  shared by Contributing Editor Geetanjali Krishna from MindSite News Jailed Climate Activist Wins Appeal Against Deportation from U.K. shared by Interim Editorial Director Tess Riley from The Guardian These Sheep Have a Statement to Make shared by Contributing Editor Michaela Haas from The New York Times Can Filtering Seawater Provide for a Thirsty World?

shared by Contributing Editor Geetanjali Krishna from The Washington Post In other news It might not be immediately obvious, but look closely at this monarch butterfly and you might spot the tail end of a tiny transmitter that s attached to its body. Want to know why scientists are smart tagging everything from bats and birds to goats and giraffes, and the huge potential it has for conservation? Check out Contributing Editor Michaela Haas s article, In Goats We Trust, to find out more. Credit: MPIAB_MaxCine.

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