Is Gunshot-Detection Technology Effective?

Gunshot-detection technology has been around for decades. ShotSpotter, in particular, operates in about 170 cities. It uses sensors to detect potential gunfire and alert law enforcement.

Some cities, though, have stopped using the tool over concerns that it’s ineffective and contributes to racial disparities.

In a new Manhattan Institute report, Robert VerBruggen looks at the technology’s effectiveness, use, and cost. “It turns out that these systems are neither a racist ploy to surveil minority communities nor a panacea for gun violence,” he writes. “Rather, they improve gunshot investigations at the margins, while costing cities some money and officer time.”

Read his analysis.

Last week, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Chiles v. Salazar. Kaley Chiles, a licensed counselor, says that Colorado’s ban on what it deems “conversion therapy” for minors—treatment that helps children accept their biological sex—violates her First Amendment rights. Meanwhile, the law allows treatment that affirms cross-sex identities.

“In other words, the state effectively promotes the ‘gender-affirming’ worldview and silences competing perspectives,” Colin Wright observes. “If the state can decide which psychological approaches are acceptable based on ideology, it effectively gains the power to define truth. The First Amendment exists to prevent that, ensuring that moral and scientific questions remain open for discussion, even inside therapy offices and clinics.”

Read about the consequences of the Court’s decision here.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced a “compact” for universities to receive funding preferences in exchange for committing to basic goals. “It builds on many of the concepts I and others championed in the Manhattan Statement on Higher Education: freedom of speech, civil discourse, institutional neutrality, and equality under the law,” Christopher F. Rufo observes. “These are common-sense principles. They should be the opening ante in any negotiation between the White House and the elite universities.”

And yet, MIT president Sally Kornbluth publicly rejected the compact, writing that it would hurt the school’s ability to participate in a “free marketplace of ideas.”

This is a preposterous argument, Rufo writes. Elite universities are some of the least free institutions in the U.S., where even neutral speech can spark investigations and punishment.

Read his take.

With New York City’s mayoral election less than a month away, City Journal reporter Adam Lehodey spoke to voters about the issues that matter most to them. High among their concerns: public safety and affordability.

Many young professionals support New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani’s proposal to “freeze the rent” and offer free childcare, but others were concerned about how feasible his plans would be. Even so, he holds a commanding lead, and Republican Curtis Sliwa and former governor Andrew Cuomo are running out of time to change that.

Read more from Lehodey’s conversations with voters.

In No Adult Left Behind: How Politics Hijacks Education Policy and Hurts Kids, political scientist Vladimir Kogan shows how schools have put politics ahead of students’ and parents’ needs. The idea that a school is a community institution “is a politically convenient concept that allows schools to get away with poor performance and drift from their core mission,” Neeraja Deshpande writes, “making education about everything but academic performance.”

Read her review.

Portland’s experience with recent electoral reforms hasn’t been a smashing success. The city uses a single transferable vote (STV) system, where voters rank-order candidates, and winning requires just a small fraction of the votes.

Because Portland’s city council lacks a majority coalition, Jack Santucci explains, it “has struggled to delegate work to committees, set meeting agendas, and manage use of its time.” The city should either make it harder to become a candidate, he argues, or switch to a more straightforward form of proportional representation, where candidates have to form parties before running for election.

Read his take.

“I am glad this book has been written. I’ll get it. The one thing I’d add is that Leftism is a kind of religion, and that Leftist violence has much in common with religious violence.”

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