How AR-15-style rifles write the tragic history of America's mass shootings

Plus, these are the most endangered historic places in the U.S. [View this email online]( [NPR Up First Newsletter]( by Suzanne Nuyen May 14, 2023 Good morning. This week, [Title 42 expired]( the [COVID public health emergency ended]( and [George Santos pleaded not guilty to federal charges](. Best of NPR Last weekend, 33-year-old Mauricio Garcia opened fire at a mall in Allen, Texas, killing eight and injuring seven more. The weapon he used to carry out the mass shooting is one Americans are all too familiar with. [An attendee holds a Springfield Armory SAINT AR-15-style rifle displayed during the National Rifle Association Annual Meeting in Houston in 2022.]( Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images Critics of AR-15 semiautomatic weapons say the gun isn't very different from military weapons, has no valid recreational use and should not be sold to civilians. The gun industry and owners say they're used for hunting, target practice and shooting competitions, and should remain legal. They were banned in 1994 when President Bill Clinton signed an assault weapons ban. The ban expired in 2004, and sales quickly rose. Since then, they've been used in multiple mass shootings and have been the [center of the debate around gun control](. ➡️ Katherine Schweit, who created the FBI's active shooter training more than a decade ago, shares insights on how [bystanders can respond to and survive]( a mass shooting. ➡️ Most gun-related deaths don't happen at mass shootings. More than half of them are suicides. Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith, dean and professor of medicine at the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, says it's clear that guns turn "[an everyday emotional situation]( into fatal encounters. She believes one way to prevent gun violence is to treat it as a [public health issue](. --------------------------------------------------------------- Newsletter continues after sponsor message --------------------------------------------------------------- The Week That Was [Pando the Aspen Clone began with a single seed and now contains over 40,000 "stems."]( Lance Oditt Pando looks like a forest of thousands of trees. But it's actually one [aspen clone]( originating from a single seed that spreads by sending up new shoots from its expanding root system. At nearly 13 million pounds, Pando is believed to be the largest, most dense organism ever found. 🎧 Listen to the [many sounds of the largest tree]( in the world. Between Daniel Estrin, lead singer of Australian pop metal band Voyager, and Daniel Estrin, the lead guitarist of the Grammy-nominated band Hoobastank, you'd think music just runs in any Daniel Estrin's bones. NPR's Daniel Estrin's talents, however, lie in journalism. 🎧 The three sat down for a hilarious "[summit of Daniels Estrin]( to discuss Voyager's performance at Eurovision. This year's list of the most endangered historic places in the U.S. includes two Chinatowns on opposite sides of the country. Katherine Malone-France, chief preservation officer of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, says the 11 sites sites are [deeply sacred places]( where "descendants are stewarding the legacies of their ancestors." On matters large and small, attorney Jonathan Mitchell has become an expert at finding tiny openings in the law and leveraging them on behalf of his conservative clients and their causes. He helped Texas lawmakers write what's now known as the "[bounty hunter law]( which lets private citizens sue anyone they suspect of getting an abortion. His work has only just begun. --------------------------------------------------------------- Podcast Picks [Cover art for "Ten Thousand Things with Shin Yu Pai."]( NPR Ten Thousand Things With Shin Yu Pai, from KUOW: Award-winning poet and museologist Shin Yu Pai [examines modern-day artifacts]( and objects that tell the diverse story of Asian Americans. 🎧 In the first episode of Season 2, poet, educator and cultural worker Ebo Barton talks about the [power of names]( and how they define us. Bullseye with Jesse Thorn: Celebrate the best of arts and culture as Jesse Thorn brings you [in-depth interviews]( with the most revered and revolutionary minds. 🎧 Shonda Rhimes, one of the most accomplished TV writers and producers of our time, joins Jesse in the latest episode to [discuss her new show]( Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story. Fresh Air, from WHYY: This [Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine]( of contemporary arts and issues is one of public radio's most popular programs. 🎧 All Things Considered host Mary Louise Kelly joins Terry Gross to discuss [balancing her career and motherhood](. --------------------------------------------------------------- Scott's Thoughts There’s a memory I cherish on this day, even though I wasn’t around for it. My mother was about 17, in an all-girls Catholic school in Chicago, run by nuns. They were kind to their students (she told no stories about being thwacked with rulers for not knowing the capital of Indiana), and my mother adored them. So much that she wondered if she might … have a calling. And one day my mother and her best bud, Dolores Saratella, took a couple of nuns' habits from a laundry pile and put them on. They didn’t just look in the mirror. They went to a mass. They strode through hallways and nodded at students (some recognized them and didn’t want to ruin their prank; many just walked past), and called out, “God be with you, child.” But my mother and Dolores were soon discovered and brought to the Mother Superior. “Why did you do that, Patsy?” she asked. “I guess I wanted to see if I had a calling,” my mother told her. “You do, dear,” she said Mother Superior told her. “For theater.” In fact, my mother would soon start working in nightclubs, get married, have me, then lose a daughter, and live through the trials of a drinking husband, divorce, tough jobs and going on in life (and two more husbands). I admire her for all that and more. But how I sometimes wish we could all get a glimpse of our mothers before we came along, and they were freer to be mischievous, hilarious and outrageous. --------------------------------------------------------------- Stream your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to find your local station stream. 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