Shannon Chaffers

My next story for our @nyblacklight series on the costs of gun violence investigates the Social Security disability system. I explored how strict eligibility requirements and a lack of agency funding has left disabled gun violence survivors without the support they need

New in @NYAmNews: @TandyLau1995 and I took an in-depth look at what Mayor Mamdani’s public safety plans could mean for the city’s community-based violence prevention organizations. amsterdamnews.com/news/2026/01/2…

New York City is moving ahead with a $218 million plan to prevent flooding in the portside neighborhood of Red Hook in Brooklyn, even though experts say it will provide inadequate protection from storms. 👀 by ⁦@ashad_hajela⁩ ⁦@NYAmNews⁩ propublica.org/article/new-yo…

Also, the idea that there’s lax enforcement of illegal gun possession in New York City isn’t accurate. There’s been a bipartisan effort in the last few decades to increase criminal penalties for unlicensed possession. nytimes.com/2019/07/11/opi…

Gun violence reporter here. If by “lax enforcement” you mean non-carceral responses, then the reasoning is because interventions like gun diversion programs are more effective at reducing recidivism and addressing the root causes of gun carrying.

For @thenation and @typeinvestigate, I looked into American Landmark, a major landlord filing evictions far more than the national average. I found they are owned by an Israeli company with ties to the IDF, including during the Gaza genocide. (1/10) thenation.com/article/societ…

You wouldn't know it from talking to most public officials, watching TV news, or reading the Post, but the 2019 reforms drove recidivism down, making everyone safer. hellgatenyc.com/bail-reform-ha…

Policing has been, uh, downplayed by Zohran Mamdani's mayoral campaign. He's now inherited one of the largest & most invasive mass surveillance operations in the US. For @WIRED, I take a look at the NYPD's tech & intelligence programs, & what he will/won't do about them

Reggie Williams was walking to a corner store when armed authorities aggressively asked him if he was from Ethiopia or Ghana, he said He and other Black Memphis residents have been reporting harassment by Trump’s police task force: "I don't feel safe" propublica.org/article/memphi…

I recently spoke with the authors of Advancing Peace, a new book on gun violence prevention. They make a compelling case that reducing gun violence means engaging the “shooters," not with threats or punishment, but with love, mentoring, and support tinyurl.com/3v8tark3

Ta-Nehisi Coates on Charlie Kirk and the pundits and politicians sanitizing his legacy. vanityfair.com/news/story/cha…

Check out my conversation with @trymainelee about his new book, A Thousand Ways To Die. It's especially relevant context as the Trump administration uses gun violence as a pretext to send federal troops into cities amsterdamnews.com/news/2025/09/0…

Genuinely unreal. Not only do your taxes fund bombing a hospital, and then waiting until more journalists and rescuers rush to the scene to bomb it again — they also fund the perpetrator telling you to your face that it was all just a “tragic mishap.”

My latest for @NYAmNews: “You can pass all the laws you want to pass. You can sit there and make it harder to legally get a gun all you want to. But these young men are still going to find a way to get a gun and carry it. You have to figure out why.” amsterdamnews.com/news/2025/08/1…

Check out the final article in my @NYAmNews series on housing challenges for gun violence survivors. I spoke with survivors forced to live in nursing homes for years because they could not find accessible, affordable housing. bit.ly/40Dtk4F @Report4America

Shocking statement about how the journalists the world has been relying on for images and reports about what’s going on in Gaza are slowly dying of starvation @AFP 🧵

The new Democratic Nominee for the Mayor of NYC is a Gunner 🔴 @ZohranKMamdani

With the Democratic mayoral primary fast approaching, @sechaffers and @tandylau1995 spoke to several candidates to learn how they plan to address gun violence. Here’s where the candidates stand. bit.ly/4kEe9QL

Pep Guardiola has implicitly pointed out at the flotilla and Greta, shattering the complicit world into pieces. And he is right in every word he said. “The next children killed will be ours.”

CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE. THE ONLY IN THE LAND ❤️

Part Two of our @nyblacklight series on housing challenges for gun violence survivors reveals how landlord resistance and high costs prevent many survivors from obtaining home modifications to make their homes more accessible. bit.ly/42LfYoq