Government
The Fight Against Gun Violence Depends on Where You Live
In the face of federal inaction, mayors are increasingly trying gun policies that are tailored to their geography.
The year before last was awful for Topeka. In 2017, the small city in northeast Kansas saw a record number of homicides. Nearly all of those 29 deaths were the result of lethal shootings, and in every one of the incidents involving guns, the victim was a person of color.
Topeka Mayor Michelle de la Isla points to gang violence as the spur behind those deaths, but that isn’t the only kind of gun problem that has wracked Topeka. She recalled a text alert she received from her daughter about an active shooting at her school.