2024 Cliff Edom New America Award

01/04/23. Reportaje sobre una familia que vive en una autocaravana en San Diego, en California (Estados Unidos). En la imagen, Chris Endres y Julienna Endres,...

01/04/23. Reportaje sobre una familia que vive en una autocaravana en San Diego, en California (Estados Unidos). En la imagen, Chris Endres y Julienna Endres, posan junto a su hijo Ayden.

01/04/23. Reportaje sobre la familia Endres, que vive en una autocaravana en San Diego, en California (Estados Unidos). En la imagen, Ayden, de 13 años,...

01/04/23. Reportaje sobre la familia Endres, que vive en una autocaravana en San Diego, en California (Estados Unidos). En la imagen, Ayden, de 13 años, trata de alcanzar un cable debajod e la autocaravana, estacionada en un aparcamiento junto a la playa en Mission Bay.

08/03/23. Reportaje sobre una familia que vive en una autocaravana en San Diego, en California. En la imagen, Julienna Endres lee la Biblia en la...

08/03/23. Reportaje sobre una familia que vive en una autocaravana en San Diego, en California. En la imagen, Julienna Endres lee la Biblia en la cama.

01/04/23. Reportaje sobre una familia que vive en una autocaravana en San Diego, en California (Estados Unidos). En la imagen, toda la familia en una...

01/04/23. Reportaje sobre una familia que vive en una autocaravana en San Diego, en California (Estados Unidos). En la imagen, toda la familia en una zona de servicios para autocaravanas en Mission Bay, en San Diego.

09/03/23. Reportaje sobre la familia Endres, que vive en una autocaravana en San Diego, en California (Estados Unidos). En la imagen, Chris y Julienna tratan...

09/03/23. Reportaje sobre la familia Endres, que vive en una autocaravana en San Diego, en California (Estados Unidos). En la imagen, Chris y Julienna tratan de arrancar la autocaravana que se ha quedado sin batería, en un aparcamiento en Mission Bay.

A house off of a dirt road near El Pedernal, a small village in the Siria Valley of Honduras, has a San Francisco 49ers emblem...

A house off of a dirt road near El Pedernal, a small village in the Siria Valley of Honduras, has a San Francisco 49ers emblem at the front gate on Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022. San Francisco is enmeshed in the fabric of the Siria Valley. People straddle both places Ð identifying with their community when in San Francisco and proud of where they've earned their money when in the Siria Valley. It is not easy to make the journey to San Francisco and many make the arduous trek regularly. This community, spanning two countries, is bound together by its love for San Francisco and the opportunity it has given them - regardless of the nature of the work. The Siria Valley has a history of extreme poverty. In the early 2000Õs Goldcorp, a Nevada and Canadian gold mining company came into the town with promises of prosperity. Instead, their project, the San Martin mine, contaminated the valley with toxic heavy metals, sickening residents, killing livestock, and accelerating villagers to seek employment elsewhere. For most of the country's history, according to the National Institute of Statistics, the vast majority of the Honduran people have benefitted little from the wealth generated by North American companies.

A longtime San Francisco drug dealer (whose name is anonymous for his safety) stands at the top of a hill in El Pedernal, Honduras, a...

A longtime San Francisco drug dealer (whose name is anonymous for his safety) stands at the top of a hill in El Pedernal, Honduras, a town of 1,600 people, that is largely supported by remittances from the United States Ñ some of it from the fentanyl trade on November 8, 2022.As he looked out onto his town he marveled at the grandeur of some of his neighborsÕ properties. ÒA little boy, 17 years (old),he built this house,Ó the dealer said, pointing to a mansion under construction. ÒYou open the doorÑbeautiful.Ó The longtime San Francisco dealer had just finished building a three-bedroom home occupied by his wife and children which cost him $150,000 Ñthe equivalent of about five good months of drug sales for him in the Tenderloin. While the dealer relished the amount of money he could make quickly by selling drugs he admitted that he felt he was no longer "good man". Alongside the recent influx of money in the villages, has been a surge in violence.Honduran gangs, like MS-13 and Barrio 18 arrive every few weeks in an attempt to extort the town.There is one murder due to the violence every two weeks.The Honduran military was stationed in town for a few weeks after a deadly shootout.Now the residents have taken it upon themselves to prevent local criminal gangs from infiltrating the village unseen.Armed residents take shifts as they ride around on motorcycles looking for anyone who looks out of place.Car windows are always down, helmets are off and everyone must be accounted for.

Olga Velasquez and her husband Alejandro Velasquez, 68, who is known to some drug dealers in San Francisco as ÒThe OGÓ drinks coffee in his...

Olga Velasquez and her husband Alejandro Velasquez, 68, who is known to some drug dealers in San Francisco as ÒThe OGÓ drinks coffee in his home in El Pedernal, Honduras on Sunday, July 2, 2023. Alejandro who first went to San Francisco in 1992 sold drugs in the Mission and the Tenderloin. He now lives in the mountains of Honduras harvesting coffee beans and plantains. In the mid-1990s, Velasquez said, he was the first person from the tiny village of El Pedernal to sell drugs in San Francisco. He had arrived by accident a few years earlier, after a series of travel mistakes. ÒIf you drink water from San Francisco,Ó he said, ÒyouÕll go back to it.Ó Velasquez, 68, is known as the ÒOG,Ó the Original Gangster, who laid the groundwork for hundreds to later follow him to the same street corners in the Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods. ÒA lot of people dreamed of coming to the U.S. because of him,Ó said a veteran Honduran dealer from El Pedernal who works in San Francisco and asked not to be named because of fear for his safety. ÒHe opened the path. He showed everyone how to do it. Then one person brought someone, and another person brought someone. He showed that it was easy money, and everyone wanted to do that. ÒJust like now. People see the success, and they want the same thing.Ó

A woman and her 1-year-old twin boys walk on a dirt road passing by a newly built mansion with several San Francisco logos on display...

A woman and her 1-year-old twin boys walk on a dirt road passing by a newly built mansion with several San Francisco logos on display in the village of El Pedernal, Honduras on Sunday, July 2, 2023. The house is owned by a 26-year-old man who has been convicted of drug charges multiple times in San Francisco and is still living and dealing drugs there. The mango-colored mansion is an homage to the city: a Golden Gate Bridge sculpture on the garage door, a San Francisco Giants logo on the balconyÕs ceiling, two 49ers logos on the front gate and the words ÒCivic CenterÓ -- which references the plaza in downtown San Francisco where people deal drugs, splayed across its security bars. Oscar Estrada, a Honduran author who wrote a book on drug traffickingÕs impact on the country was astounded by the architecture in the villages. He said ÒI have seen remittance architecture in the 90's which was very obvious and they have a very clear design and usually it is related with aspirations of the immigrants to the United States, But this is not that. This looks more like a typical Narco house. The one you see in places like É Colombia (where) you see the kind of architecture totally over the top of the community. ThatÕs very clear.Ó

Ofelia Raudales Varela, 88, who lives in a rural village in the Siria Valley sits for a portrait in her home in El Pedernal, Honduras...

Ofelia Raudales Varela, 88, who lives in a rural village in the Siria Valley sits for a portrait in her home in El Pedernal, Honduras on Monday, July 3, 2023. Honduran drug dealers travel from the Siria Valley to San Francisco to sell drugs and eventually send money back to their families to build homes - sometimes even lavish mansions with San Francisco iconography. Many people in the village believe that Ofelia's husband, (who is now deceased,) was the first drug dealer to travel from the small village to San Francisco to sell drugs and was an inspiration to the rest of the town. She denied the allegation but knew about the strong connection between the Siria Valley and San Francisco. She said that while many of the villagers send remittances from their construction work back home, theyÕre not the ones building the mansions. "ThereÕs no other option for them to make a house in that way if it wasnÕt for selling drugs in the U.S,Ó she said.

Seven-year-old Jose Carlos, wearing a T-shirt with Golden State Warriors star Stephen CurryÕs number, climbs a tree during recess from the English Academy at a...

Seven-year-old Jose Carlos, wearing a T-shirt with Golden State Warriors star Stephen CurryÕs number, climbs a tree during recess from the English Academy at a park in El Porvenir, Honduras on November 9, 2022. Elvis Hernandez who runs the English Academy said many young villagers leave for the U.S. unprepared for its workforce. They have little education, donÕt speak English and have few skill sets suitable for American job markets. He hopes to change that. ÒWhatÕs happening? Unhealthy migration is happening, and thatÕs really hurting us,Ó Hernandez said. Hernandez said his goal is to break the generational dangers of drug dealing and better prepare his students to succeed in the U.S. ItÕs not always easy, he said, when drug money is the fastest way up the economic ladder. By the time boys are 13 or 14, he said, they start talking about making their own journey to the U.S. The teen boys Òare trying to see the girls, the girls are only paying attention to the guys with the cars, and the guys with the cars are the ones who have gone to the States.Ó ÒIf you show someone immature something shiny,Ó Hernandez said, ÒtheyÕre going to want it.Ó

Dayana Ervir and her 5-year-old son, Lian Ervir, visit the gravesite of their cousin Dervin Amado Arteaga Ervir in El Escano de Tepale, Honduras, on...

Dayana Ervir and her 5-year-old son, Lian Ervir, visit the gravesite of their cousin Dervin Amado Arteaga Ervir in El Escano de Tepale, Honduras, on November 12, 2022. Dervin Amado Arteaga Ervir, a 15-year-old boy from the Honduran village of El Escano de Tepale, had just parted ways with his father Marcio when he joined other young Honduran migrants selling drugs at Seventh and Mission streets in San Francisco. It was a little after 6 p.m. on July 18, 2021, when a driver in a white Chevrolet Malibu rolled up and called out to him. As Dervin approached the vehicle, the driver pulled out a gun and demanded the cash in the teenagerÕs backpack. The boy handed over the money, but either didnÕt hear or didnÕt comply with the manÕs demands to relinquish the whole bag, DervinÕs father, Marcio Amado Arteaga Escoto, who is also a drug dealer, said in an interview. Marcio heard the gunshots from less than a block away. He and his son had just bought dinner, but Dervin, explaining he wasnÕt hungry, told his dad he was going to hang out with his friends for a while. As Marcio ran back toward the crowd, he saw it was Dervin who had been shot. He scooped up his son, who was bleeding from the neck, and screamed, a witness said. ÒHe was with life still,Ó Marcio said. ÒHe wanted to talk to me but he could not because he was suffocating. I had him in my arms. He died in my arms.Ó Dervin was pronounced dead at San Francisco General Hospital at 8:47 p.m.

The children of San Francisco drug dealers (who are anonymous for their safety) play with toy guns at home in El Pedernal, Honduras on Thursday,...

The children of San Francisco drug dealers (who are anonymous for their safety) play with toy guns at home in El Pedernal, Honduras on Thursday, Nov. 10, 2022. From a young age, traveling to the United States is the ultimate dream. It's the only way to make real money and survive in the small villages. A longtime dealer from the Siria Valley who first arrived in San Francisco in 2004 said that, as a child, he would watch as others returned to Honduras after selling drugs in the Bay Area. They were Òpopular because of the cars and money,Ó he said.ÒSo everybody wanted the same.Ó It is a pattern of migration which leads to generational drug dealing. A local teacher Elvis Hernandez who works with students in the Siria Valley said many young villagers leave for the U.S. unprepared for its workforce. They have little education, donÕt speak English and have few skill sets suitable for American job markets. ÒWhatÕs happening? Unhealthy migration is happening, and thatÕs really hurting us,Ó said Hernandez, who teaches English. "ItÕs not always easy. when drug money is the fastest way up the economic ladder. By the time boys are 13 or 14 ,he said, they start talking about making their own journey to the U.S. The teen boys Òare trying to see the girls, the girls are only paying attention to the guys with the cars, and the guys with the cars are the ones who have gone to the States.Ó ÒIf you show someone immature something shiny,Ó Hernandez said, ÒtheyÕre going to want it.Ó

Roberto Ortega (left) and other construction workers expand a home in El Porvenir, Honduras on Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022. El Porvenir and the surrounding villages...

Roberto Ortega (left) and other construction workers expand a home in El Porvenir, Honduras on Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022. El Porvenir and the surrounding villages have seen a real estate boom in the past 5-years, It's hardware store was the busiest spot in town. ÒYou shouldnÕt go asking questions about El Pedernal,Ó a customer at the hardware store said to journalists who were interviewing the store owner.

A mural of the Bay Bridge is seen on a wall in El Pedernal, Honduras on Saturday, Nov. 12, 2022. There are many San Francisco...

A mural of the Bay Bridge is seen on a wall in El Pedernal, Honduras on Saturday, Nov. 12, 2022. There are many San Francisco emblems throughout the town which is largely supported by remittances from the United States. San Francisco is enmeshed in the fabric of the Siria Valley. People straddle both places Ð identifying with their community when in San Francisco and proud of where they've earned their money when in the Siria Valley. It is not easy to make the journey to San Francisco and many make the arduous trek regularly. This community, spanning two countries, is bound together by its love for San Francisco and the opportunity it has given them - regardless of the nature of the work.

MIgrants cross the border as they prepare to turn themselves over for asylum in Yuma, Arizona on Thursday, May 11, 2023. Many drug dealers who...

MIgrants cross the border as they prepare to turn themselves over for asylum in Yuma, Arizona on Thursday, May 11, 2023. Many drug dealers who come to San Francisco cross illegally through the border in Arizona. Those who have money get to the U.S. with private drivers, two dealers said. They hire a coyote to drive them the entire route from Honduras, The trips can cost as much as $21,000. Those without money, other dealers said, ride buses, trudge through deserts and jump on a moving cargo train in southern Mexico near the border with Guatemala. In Mexico, they are often extorted by cops and robbed by gangs before getting to the border, dealers said. The migrants often rely on advice from those who have already reached American soil: DonÕt carry U.S. phone numbers, lest the gangs find them and think thereÕs someone with American dollars who would pay a ransom. On the cargo train, ominously nicknamed Òthe Beast,Ó it is better to scrunch between the cars than ride on top, where low-hanging branches have dislodged stowaways, leading to them being dismembered. ÒI tied myself with a belt (to the train) because people would fall off and they would be mutilated,Ó said Leydis Cruz, a dealer, who was convicted of helping to lead a family-run fentanyl . Once they arrive in the Bay Area, many of the young Honduran dealers crowd into bare-bones homes in Oakland, sharing rooms with new acquaintances and sometimes their families, according to court records and dealers.

A Honduran dealer sells makes a drug sale on Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco, California Tuesday, May 2, 2023. Bloody turf wars and gang...

A Honduran dealer sells makes a drug sale on Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco, California Tuesday, May 2, 2023. Bloody turf wars and gang initiation rituals arenÕt defining features of San FranciscoÕs modern drug operation, partly because the Honduran dealers Òall know each other,Ó a city police officer said. The intent is to make money fast, and any mayhem is costly Ñ it attracts police attention and can close a block for hours. Still, the specter of violence is constant. Almost all the Honduran dealers interviewed for the story said that despite their dominance over the area, they or their families in Honduras could be killed for running afoul of the Mexican bosses. On the streets, desperate customers can be volatile, and robbers know theyÕre carrying cash. They are known to defend their territory with guns, knives and machetes.

An undercover narcotics police officer shows drugs and money that were seized from a drug dealer on Hyde Street in San Francisco on Wednesday, Nov....

An undercover narcotics police officer shows drugs and money that were seized from a drug dealer on Hyde Street in San Francisco on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. The investigation found no evidence of drug kingpins among the Honduran migrants in San Francisco. The dealers work as a network of affiliates, which keeps the police from being able to cripple the operation with one key arrest. The cartels hire runners to ferry their product from Mexico to Southern California; from there itÕs transported up the West Coast with local operatives close to the cartels working out the details. These operatives often own a few properties in the East Bay, which can serve as stash houses and rental units for street dealers, according to court records and police interviews.

Undercover narcotics police officers arrest a Honduran drug dealer on Fulton Street in a coordinated drug bust in San Francisco on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023....

Undercover narcotics police officers arrest a Honduran drug dealer on Fulton Street in a coordinated drug bust in San Francisco on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. When a longtime drug dealer was asked whether he was afraid of San Francisco police, the dealer let out a loud laugh. Yes and no, he said. ÒThey know whatÕs going on, but I donÕt know. If they want to clean it, they can clean it,Ó the dealer said. ÒSometimes they do the job, but itÕs like, just for the news, like, ÔOh, we did the job good.Õ If they wanted to clean it good, they could do that.Ó The dealer said he likes some of San FranciscoÕs police officers. Sometimes, he said, one will tap him on the shoulder and say, ÒYouÕve been out here for four hours. YouÕve made enough money.Ó ÒFentanyl has changed the game in San Francisco and in California,Ó SFPD Police Chief Scott said. ÒThis deadly poison has caused fatal overdoses to increase almost every year since it hit the streets of our city. We have changed how we are evaluating and responding to this drug crisis. The SFPD has increased our plainclothes operations and buy-busts to ensure we hold the dealers who profit from this misery accountable.Ó The opioid epidemic has hit San Francisco particularly hard as authorities have been unable to control the open air drug markets. 2023 has been the deadliest for opioid overdoses on record despite local efforts. As of November 2023, 752 had died of drug overdoses.

Candles on Golden Gate Avenue memorialize Jose Valle Rodriguez, a Honduran drug dealer nicknamed ÒLolo,Ó who was fatally shot, allegedly by another Honduran drug dealer...

Candles on Golden Gate Avenue memorialize Jose Valle Rodriguez, a Honduran drug dealer nicknamed ÒLolo,Ó who was fatally shot, allegedly by another Honduran drug dealer in San Francisco on November 29, 2023. The dealer was highly regarded by other dealers and drug users often lending people money and giving out free samples of drugs. According to undercover narcotics officers he was bringing in around $40,000 a week in drug sales.

JT Farrell, 32, rests near a warm sewer grate after using fentanyl on Larkin Street outside of City Hall on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022 in...

JT Farrell, 32, rests near a warm sewer grate after using fentanyl on Larkin Street outside of City Hall on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022 in San Francisco, California. JT got up moments later, ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and consented to his photograph being used in the newspaper and for an article. Farrell, an unhoused person who uses fentanyl, hangs around in the Tenderloin during the day but says he finds it too dangerous at night, so he sleeps near Civic Center. Black San Franciscans, like J.T., have been particularly harmed by the cityÕs overdose epidemic. In 2021, Black people were almost six times more likely to die of accidental overdoses than the average resident. The fentanyl use in San Francisco has become a public health crisis with several people dying daily and dozens more being reversed from overdoses.

An unhoused person smokes on Jones Street on Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2022 in San Francisco, California. In San Francisco, roughly 1,310 people died from drug...

An unhoused person smokes on Jones Street on Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2022 in San Francisco, California. In San Francisco, roughly 1,310 people died from drug overdoses in 2020 and 2021, almost twice the toll of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly three-quarters of the victims were found to have fentanyl in their systems. The toll would be higher if not for Narcan, the antidote now used more than 500 times a month to yank people back from the brink of death. Many of the cityÕs dead have been found within blocks of each other in the Tenderloin and South of Market, which have long shouldered San FranciscoÕs most pressing problems. The Tenderloin, full of vulnerable people and low-income families, endures a constant open-air drug market that city leaders would never tolerate in wealthier neighborhoods.

Mayor London Breed and Chief of Police Bill Scott listen as Sheriff Paul Miyamoto (right) speaks about open air drug markets and safety in the...

Mayor London Breed and Chief of Police Bill Scott listen as Sheriff Paul Miyamoto (right) speaks about open air drug markets and safety in the Sunset district during a press conference in San Francisco on Tuesday, June 27, 2023. Breed has been heavily criticized for her handling of the open air drug markets. She is up for re-election in 2024.

A homeless (left) man walks past the body of Charles Edward Banks, 61, originally from Texas, who lays dead on the sidewalk after a fentanyl...

A homeless (left) man walks past the body of Charles Edward Banks, 61, originally from Texas, who lays dead on the sidewalk after a fentanyl drug overdose on Ellis Street in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, June 12, 2023.. Medical personnel tried for over thirty minutes to bring him back to life using an automated chest compression machine but he was unable to be revived. His body was being attended to by San Francisco police as they waited for the medical examiner to arrive. Charles' wife, who is also a drug user, was pregnant at the time of his death but later lost the baby. The opioid epidemic has hit San Francisco particularly hard as authorities have been unable to control the open air drug markets. 2023 has been the deadliest for opioid overdoses on record despite local efforts.

Jessica DiDia, 36, who is fentanyl user, is seen intubated after suffering from a grand mal seizure that the doctors had difficulty controlling at San...

Jessica DiDia, 36, who is fentanyl user, is seen intubated after suffering from a grand mal seizure that the doctors had difficulty controlling at San Francisco General hospital in San Francisco, Calif., on Saturday, May 13, 2023. The doctors were concerned she had no brain function but later discovered that her brain was not affected. Jessica's mom Laurie flew from Seattle to be with Jessica after the hospital called Laurie to tell her of her daughters injuries. Laurie arrived at S.F. General on May 14, MotherÕs Day. She found her daughter unconscious and intubated, her face and limbs swollen and puffy. ÒMommyÕs here,Ó she told Jessica, rubbing her arm. ÒWeÕre going to take care of you. YouÕre going to be OK.Ó

Onlookers including Jessica DiDia, 34, (center) who is homeless and a drug user, watches as an EMT responds to David Thomas Larson, 49, who overdosed...

Onlookers including Jessica DiDia, 34, (center) who is homeless and a drug user, watches as an EMT responds to David Thomas Larson, 49, who overdosed on drugs at the corner of Eddy and Larkin Streets as people look on on Monday, Feb. 28, 2022 in San Francisco, California. Jessica said she made eye contact with David seconds before he fell from his seat at the bus stop and hit the ground. She yelled out to people passing by to call for an ambulance and watched in horror. He was not revived at the scene but he did survive and gave consent to his image after recovering. Jessica recalled the first time she used fentanyl Ñ sometime in 2019 when she thought she was buying pure crack cocaine. ÒI felt it going up my spine. I felt like it exploded and then I died,Ó she said. ÒThe feeling of the near-death experience is indescribable. Complete nothingness.Ó She said police officers injected her with Narcan eight times. ÒIÕve OD'd at least 50 times,Ó Jessica said.

Hazel Mayorga, 39, (left) gets emotional as she talks to her friend Graciela Cortez, 54, on the one-year anniversary of her daughter Paris Serrano's death...

Hazel Mayorga, 39, (left) gets emotional as she talks to her friend Graciela Cortez, 54, on the one-year anniversary of her daughter Paris Serrano's death from of a drug overdose on Wednesday, March 9, 2022 in San Francisco, California. Paris Serrano was 14 when she became the youngest person in San Francisco to die after taking a fatal dose of fentanyl overdose in 2021. ÒToday is the worst day, just the worst day,Ó Hazel said. Last year she went into her 14-year-old girl daughters room to find that she was facedown on the top bunk bed, arms splayed out. It was just after 5 p.m. She thought that her daughter must really tired but after shaking her she didn't move and her lips were purple. After calling 911 call and the frenetic paramedicsÕ best efforts were over, there was nothing more to be done. On March 9, 2021, Paris Serrano became the youngest person in San Francisco to die last year of a fentanyl overdose. ÒGod is with us, but why such sadness?Ó Hazel said. ÒNothing in life is more important than your daughter. Why would he take her?Ó

A medical examiner investigator wheels the body of a man believed to have overdosed at a senior apartment complex near Natoma and Eighth streets on...

A medical examiner investigator wheels the body of a man believed to have overdosed at a senior apartment complex near Natoma and Eighth streets on December 19, 2023. The opioid epidemic has hit San Francisco particularly hard as authorities have been unable to control the open air drug markets. 2023 has been the deadliest for opioid overdoses on record despite local efforts.

A man who goes by Groundstrike sits hunched over after doing drugs outside the window of 6-year-old Lapats CharoensukÕs (not pictured) apartment on Eddy Street...

A man who goes by Groundstrike sits hunched over after doing drugs outside the window of 6-year-old Lapats CharoensukÕs (not pictured) apartment on Eddy Street on Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022 in San Francisco, California. He suffers from mental illness and his drug use has left him crippled..

Rev. Jimmie Hardaway Jr. shows the gun he carries on him during services at Trinity Baptist church Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023, in Niagara Falls, N.Y....

Rev. Jimmie Hardaway Jr. shows the gun he carries on him during services at Trinity Baptist church Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023, in Niagara Falls, N.Y. “I’m really not free if I know that there’s someone who can do harm and I can’t do anything to protect them.” American identity is deeply grounded in the belief that everyone, no matter who they are, is entitled to certain rights and liberties. But what happens when one of those freedoms – a nearly unfettered right to own guns – upends the calculus that safeguards others? To many Americans, gun violence feels like a growing threat to some of the freedoms that give meaning to everyday life. The right to worship in peace. To go to school. To “the pursuit of happiness” that the nation’s founders so prized. To many of their fellow Americans, equally weary of menace, the right to guns is an essential means of protecting precious liberties. And the tension between those beliefs is rising. How can the freedoms Americans cherish be protected when the threat of mass shootings, neighborhood violence and self-harm casts such a long shadow? With friction mounting, many are struggling for answers.

Rev. Jimmie Hardaway Jr. locks the door to Trinity Baptist church as leaves following services Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023, in Niagara Falls, N.Y. The decision...

Rev. Jimmie Hardaway Jr. locks the door to Trinity Baptist church as leaves following services Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023, in Niagara Falls, N.Y. The decision for Hardaway to carry a gun on him in church is a distinctly American one. And it spotlights rising friction between the assertion of two very American principles: the right to worship and the right to own guns. But with U.S. deaths by gunfire reaching record levels, it is far from an isolated instance of that tension.

Rev. Jimmie Hardaway Jr., left, prays with, Rev. Charles Searcy, while visiting friends and parishioners recovering in a hospital, Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023, in Buffalo,...

Rev. Jimmie Hardaway Jr., left, prays with, Rev. Charles Searcy, while visiting friends and parishioners recovering in a hospital, Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023, in Buffalo, N.Y. In a profane world, they try to offer sanctuary. But attacks on churches, synagogues and mosques have forced faith leaders to weigh difficult choices between openness and locking down. To some, the right to be armed is a necessary means of protecting the right to worship in peace. To others, the proliferation of guns and shootings threatens the atmosphere of reflection and community they exist to foster.

Janet Paulsen drives through the cemetery in Acworth, Ga., Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023, where her estranged husband used to park with their twin sons in...

Janet Paulsen drives through the cemetery in Acworth, Ga., Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023, where her estranged husband used to park with their twin sons in their car seats and drink before bringing them home. “Isn’t that sick?” she asked out loud. Paulsen said she’s used to ride her bike through the cemetery after the shooting. “It’s a reminder of that’s what I did for my kids.” (surviving the shooting) “I put a stop to that.”

Janet Paulsen is photographed at her home in Acworth, Ga., Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023, showing the gun shot wounds and scar to remove the bullets...

Janet Paulsen is photographed at her home in Acworth, Ga., Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023, showing the gun shot wounds and scar to remove the bullets after her estranged husband ambushed her in their garage in 2015 before turning the gun on himself. As As Paulsen prepared to leave her husband, who had become increasingly unstable over their 15-year marriage, she obtained a protection order against him and his collection of firearms. When he violated that protection order, a court ordered deputies to confiscate his guns who removed about 70 firearms from their home. The deputies, though, left a handgun in a pickup truck parked in the driveway, unsure if the order covered his vehicle. Five days later, Paulsen’s husband ambushed her in the garage as she stopped home with groceries. He used the gun from the truck to shoot her six times, as she tried to flee, before killing himself. "Every step of the way it seemed like his rights were more important ... than mine and my children’s,” she said, her normally stoic voice breaking.

Lonnie, left, and Sandy Phillips, stand among the cranes ascending to the sky as part of the memorial garden honoring the victims of the 2012...

Lonnie, left, and Sandy Phillips, stand among the cranes ascending to the sky as part of the memorial garden honoring the victims of the 2012 mass shooting at an Aurora, Colorado movie theater, including Sandy’s daughter, Jessica Ghawi, Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2023, in Aurora, Colo. “You can’t help but come here and ask why?” said Sandy Phillips. “I get my strength from him (Lonnie) and from Jess. It’s a fight every day.”

Lonnie Phillips, inspects the roof of the RV he and his wife, Sandy, used to travel from one mass shooting to another, as it sits...

Lonnie Phillips, inspects the roof of the RV he and his wife, Sandy, used to travel from one mass shooting to another, as it sits in a storage lot in Longmont, Colo., Monday, Sept. 4, 2023. Suffering through their own personal loss after a mass shooting in Colorado in 2012, the couple set out to help other parents like them, traveling to shooting sites around the country. When they got to Uvalde, where 19 students and two teachers were killed in an elementary school, they were more shaken than they had been in years. The weight of their journey became blatantly clear. The grief swallowed them. And, as quickly as it started 10 years earlier, their trip was over.

Sandy Phillips, right, sits for a portrait at her friend’s home in Lone Tree, Colo., Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2023, with her husband, Lonnie, behind a...

Sandy Phillips, right, sits for a portrait at her friend’s home in Lone Tree, Colo., Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2023, with her husband, Lonnie, behind a photo of her daughter, Jessica Ghawi, who was killed in the 2012 mass shooting at an Aurora, Colorado movie theater. After their lives were torn apart by a mass shooting, they set off on a journey to find happiness again and to help others touched by the same darkness. As the years passed and more gun deaths amassed, they found themselves at a crossroads. Is happiness after such a loss even possible?

Navada, Gwynn, left, embraces his daughter, also named, Navada, 15, as they hold their dogs, Whoa-Whoa, left, and Honey, at their home in Louisville, Ky.,...

Navada, Gwynn, left, embraces his daughter, also named, Navada, 15, as they hold their dogs, Whoa-Whoa, left, and Honey, at their home in Louisville, Ky., Monday, Aug. 28, 2023. When the elder Navada’s 19-year-old son, Christian, was killed in a drive-by shooting four blocks from home in 2019, he blamed himself for not doing more to protect him. Just two years later, his daughter, Victoria, then also 19, was shot and injured at a park. Now the Gwynns have pulled their youngest child, Navada, out of school, home schooling to keep her safe. He carries a pistol for protection, pointing out that people, not their guns, are responsible for committing violence. After a record number of mass killings this year and surging youth deaths by firearms, it can be challenging for any parent to reassure their children. Many parents say they just want their children to “just be kids.” Yet their awareness grows no matter how parents shield them.

Navada Gwynn, 15, center, sings in the living room next to her mother, Krista, left, and sister, Victoria, 21, in Louisville, Ky, Monday, Aug. 28,...

Navada Gwynn, 15, center, sings in the living room next to her mother, Krista, left, and sister, Victoria, 21, in Louisville, Ky, Monday, Aug. 28, 2023. Since the shootings, the two girls stay close to their parents. Navada’s older brother, Christian, was shot and killed in a 2019 drive-by shooting blocks from their house. Two years later, her sister, Victoria was shot while sitting in a park but survived. Her parents have now pulled Navada out of school to keep her safe and home school her. She stays close to parents and rarely goes out without them. “I feel better at home. I have anxiety, kind of because what happened to them.” Navada said about her siblings. She prefers being close to her family rather than worry about her safety at school. And when her anxiety kicks in, she’ll listen to music, or color or play with her dog, Honey.

Navada Gwynn, right, watches the news of a recent shooting in the city while eating breakfast with his daughter, also named Navada, 15, at their...

Navada Gwynn, right, watches the news of a recent shooting in the city while eating breakfast with his daughter, also named Navada, 15, at their home in Louisville, Ky, Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023. Th elder Gwynn now carries a pistol to protect his family since his son, Christian, was shot and killed and his daughter, Victoria, was shot and survived two years later.

Krista Gwynn shows the text message she received from her daughter, Victoria, when she was shot and injured in 2021 at a park in Louisville,...

Krista Gwynn shows the text message she received from her daughter, Victoria, when she was shot and injured in 2021 at a park in Louisville, Ky., Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023. To learn and grow, children must be kept safe. But horrific school shootings – from Columbine to Newtown to Uvalde – and neighborhood violence have forced parents to confront new fears, while trying to reassure their kids.

Victoria Gwynn, 21, waits in the car with her father, Navada, right, and sister, also named Navada, 15, left, for a bus to take her...

Victoria Gwynn, 21, waits in the car with her father, Navada, right, and sister, also named Navada, 15, left, for a bus to take her to work at dawn in Louisville, Ky, Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023. Since she was shot and injured in a park in 2021, two years after her brother, Christian was shot and killed, Gwynn doesn’t walk alone through her neighborhood and gets suspicious when cars slow past her house.

Navada Gwynn, right, embraces his daughter, Victoria, 21, while waiting with her at dawn for the bus to take her to work in Louisville, Ky,...

Navada Gwynn, right, embraces his daughter, Victoria, 21, while waiting with her at dawn for the bus to take her to work in Louisville, Ky, Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023. Since she was shot and injured in a park in 2021, Victoria’s parents don’t let her walk through the neighborhood alone. Two years before she was shot, her bother, Christian, was shot and killed while walking home. Victoria’s parents keep her close to them and have even pulled their youngest daughter from school, choosing to homeschool her instead to keep her safe.

Hollan Holm, right, locks the front door before heading to dinner with his daughter, Sylvia, 11, and the rest of the family in Louisville, Ky.,...

Hollan Holm, right, locks the front door before heading to dinner with his daughter, Sylvia, 11, and the rest of the family in Louisville, Ky., Saturday, June 3, 2023. Sylvia’s father survived one of America’s first mass shootings in a school and shooting drills have been a fact of life in her own childhood. She believes the burden falls on her generation to work to solve the country’s gun problem. “Because the adults haven’t done enough,” she says.

Hollan Holm, left, and his wife Kate Dittmeier Holm, right, observe a moment of silence with their daughter, Sylvia, 11, during a rally against gun...

Hollan Holm, left, and his wife Kate Dittmeier Holm, right, observe a moment of silence with their daughter, Sylvia, 11, during a rally against gun violence in Louisville, Ky., Saturday, June 3, 2023. In the United States, every child has the right to an education. But ever since a horrific pair of school shootings – the 1989 attack on an elementary school in Stockton, California that killed five students and the massacre of 12 teens and a teacher at Colorado’s Columbine High School a decade later – the question of how to protect children while upholding gun rights has been bitterly contested.

Sylvia Holm, 11, right, swings in her backyard while playing with her bother, George, at their home in Louisville, Ky., Saturday, June 3, 2023. Raising...

Sylvia Holm, 11, right, swings in her backyard while playing with her bother, George, at their home in Louisville, Ky., Saturday, June 3, 2023. Raising kids amid school shootings and neighborhood violence is enough to worry any parent. For those, like the Holms whose father survived a school shooting during the Columbine era, it can be even harder.

Hunter Paulsen, 20, pushes out a wheelchair from the garage for his mother, Janet, at their home in Acworth, Ga., Monday, Aug. 7, 2023. “It...

Hunter Paulsen, 20, pushes out a wheelchair from the garage for his mother, Janet, at their home in Acworth, Ga., Monday, Aug. 7, 2023. “It escalated very rapidly when I told him I wanted a divorce,” Paulsen said. “He was sexually abusive, he was emotionally abusive, he was unstable. But there had not been any prior (physical) violence. That’s another thing people don’t understand.”

Robert Rohde mows the lawn past a fence adorned with pro-America signs at his home in Flint, Texas, Friday, June 9, 2023. Rohde and his...

Robert Rohde mows the lawn past a fence adorned with pro-America signs at his home in Flint, Texas, Friday, June 9, 2023. Rohde and his wife, Barbie, run the most active chapter of a nonprofit called Mission-22, aimed at ending the scourge of military and veteran suicide, which kills thousands of service members every year, at a rate far higher than the general population, including his 25-year-old step-son, Army Sgt. Cody Bowman.

Diners sit in an ice cream shop window as the sun sets in Acworth, Ga., Monday, Aug. 7, 2023. American identity is deeply grounded in...

Diners sit in an ice cream shop window as the sun sets in Acworth, Ga., Monday, Aug. 7, 2023. American identity is deeply grounded in the belief that everyone, no matter who they are, is entitled to certain rights and liberties. But what happens when one of those freedoms – a nearly unfettered right to own guns – upends the calculus that safeguards others?

A boy reaches up for a toy machine gun for sale at a festival Saturday, June 10, 2023, in Jacksonville, Texas. At this festival, the...

A boy reaches up for a toy machine gun for sale at a festival Saturday, June 10, 2023, in Jacksonville, Texas. At this festival, the Marine Corps booth down the street was auctioning off an AR-15 to raise money for a children’s charity. A seller handed out free gun locks to anyone who buys his T-shirts, some supporting former President Donald Trump, others that declare: “God. Guns. Coffee.” This is a place where people believe that guns are fundamental to their identity, that guns protect their families.

Barbie Rohde, buys a raffle ticket to win an AR-15 rifle at a festival while volunteering for Mission-22, a nonprofit that aims to end military...

Barbie Rohde, buys a raffle ticket to win an AR-15 rifle at a festival while volunteering for Mission-22, a nonprofit that aims to end military and veteran suicide, Saturday, June 10, 2023, in Jacksonville, Texas. Rohde is a conservative, a devoted fan of Trump. She doesn’t like phrases like “gun control” and doesn’t believe in mandated gun restrictions. But something more needs to be done, she thinks. “I truly believe that having such ready access to weapons is a big problem, the easy access for our military who are suffering,” she said. “That's not a popular opinion for me to have. And I don't care because that's what I believe.”

Candy Linear wears a jacket decorated with an image of her daughter, Nylah, who was shot and killed at the age of 16, as Linear...

Candy Linear wears a jacket decorated with an image of her daughter, Nylah, who was shot and killed at the age of 16, as Linear attends a gun control rally in Louisville, Ky., Saturday, June 3, 2023. Linear ran out to find her daughter on the ground just blocks from their home. Two years later, she attended what would have been her daughter’s high school graduation today.

Barbie Rohde touches the tombstone of her son, Army Sgt. Cody Bowman, at the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery, Sunday, June 11, 2023, in Dallas, Texas....

Barbie Rohde touches the tombstone of her son, Army Sgt. Cody Bowman, at the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery, Sunday, June 11, 2023, in Dallas, Texas. For decades, discussions of suicide prevention skirted fraught question about firearms; the Army has punted implementing measures that might be controversial. But a growing movement has taken hold, among researchers, the VA, ordinary people like Rohde: if this country wants to get serious about addressing an epidemic of suicide, it must find a way to honor veterans, respect their rights to own a gun, but keep it out of their hands on their darkest days.