The New Yorker contributor Mike Spies joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss the story of a woman who lost two partners to suicide by firearm and then spent years in a legal battle with the National Rifle Association over her late partner’s retirement savings. They talk about the role that gun ownership and decades of messaging from the N.R.A. played in her second partner’s descent into paranoia, extremism, and abuse. They also explore the link between firearm access and suicide, how gun-rights organizations have sought to cast doubt on research connecting the two, and the current state of the debate over gun rights and gun safety.

This episode mentions suicide and suicidal thoughts. If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 or chat at 988Lifeline.org. 

This week’s reading:

• “A Woman Lost Two Partners to Guns—Then the N.R.A. Came to Collect,” by Mike Spies
• “Trump’s Isolationism Is Losing the Great E.V. Race,” by Bill McKibben
• “The Department of Labored Content,” by Brady Brickner-Wood
• “How Netanyahu’s Top General Became His Strongest Challenger,” by David Remnick
• “Which Way Should the Democratic Party Go Now?,” by Benjamin Wallace-Wells

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