Hi, I'm Erica Pandy, and welcome to Axios Recap, where we dig into one big story.

It's Tuesday, October 26th, and we're focused on state gun laws.

Firearm purchases have spiked in the U.S. over the last year.

The FBI conducted more than 39 million firearm background checks in 2020 and more than 30 million so far in 2021.

The Biden administration has tried to prevent gun violence with new policing strategies to revoke licenses from dealers for violating federal laws on a first defense. And many states have

either passed major gun safety laws or gun rights laws, each impacting police reform, permanent

less carry, or community violence intervention. Could we see federal action on gun control in the

near future? In a moment, Axios politics reporter Steph Kite on the battle over state gun laws.

And we're joined now by Axios politics reporter Steph Kite, who's been reporting on state gun laws.

Hey, Steph. Hey, Erica.

So, Steph, the gun control conversation has been happening for years now. Why is it happening again now?

I mean, I think we see this debate re-up every time we see

one of these devastating mass shootings. So it's really an issue that continues to pop up. In particular

last year, we saw an uptick in gun violence and an uptick in firearm purchases throughout the

coronavirus. And then that's continued

into this year.

Some, and so a lot of people are trying to figure out, A, why are we seeing so many more homicides

and other violence?

What is the link to guns?

And are there laws that need to be changed?

And do we know why homicides are up this year for the first time in a long time?

I think it's hard to really pinpoint exactly why, but we do know that it's been gun-related homicides lots of the time.

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