RICHMOND, Va. - Armed protests in the United States are six times more likely to turn violent as unarmed protests, according to a new report, and researchers say the growing numbers of these demonstrations pose a threat to democracy.

The report examined more than 30,000 demonstrations across the country in the past 18 months, many in state capitals, said Justin Wagner, director of investigations for Everytown for Gun Safety, who led the research team. He said rallies with folks who bear arms, especially in states such as Virginia with open-carry gun laws, have been on the rise since a January 2020 pro-gun rally in Richmond.

"In the last two years or so, there's been an increasingly frequent refrain of right-wing militant groups - whether it's the Oath Keepers, or Three Percenters, Proud Boys - who are taking to demonstrations and using guns to intimidate," Wagner said, "and we think that intimidation is really dangerous to our democracy."

Many protesters who bring guns to rallies have said it's their constitutional right, and that bringing firearms to public spaces can make people safer. However, the study found demonstrations involving at least one armed individual tend to be violent or destructive nearly 16% of the time.

Wagner explained that the majority of demonstrations that encourage guns have been driven by reactions to left-wing activism, and by far-right mobilization. He noted that armed rallies have become so common that the nation has seen more than 500 of them in just the last year and a half.

"The peak of armed protests was the summer of 2020, and there was a secondary peak around the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol," he said. "Since then, the numbers have actually been on the rise, and in June we've seen armed protests significantly on the rise compared to where they were earlier in the year."

The report found that the top states for numbers of armed demonstrations are Oregon, Texas, Washington state and Pennsylvania, all of which allow open-carry of firearms. Pennsylvania and Washington state allow open carry without a permit.

With firearm deaths in Connecticut and across the country on the rise, a new initiative in Hartford aims to interrupt gun violence through a partnership between community organizations and hospitals.

Through the collaboration, Saint Francis Hospital, Connecticut Children's and Hartford Hospital will work with community organizations to provide mental-health and other services to hospitalized individuals and families impacted by gun violence.

Andrew Woods is the executive director of Hartford Communities That Care, one of the organizations partnering with the hospitals. He said supporting victims in the immediate aftermath of their injuries can help keep people safe in the long term.

"These programs are vitally important," said Woods, "to really get families and individuals who have been impacted to take a look at, one, recognize the signs and symptoms of trauma - how it's impacting their lives, how it's undermining their social-emotional well-being - and therefore put themselves at greater risks of being revictimized or perpetrating violence against another person."

Hartford Communities That Care has been running a hospital-based violence-intervention program with Saint Francis since 2004. Since then, they've connected more than 1,900 people who are victims of gun violence to wraparound and medical services.

Kevin Borrup is the executive director of the Injury Prevention Center at Connecticut Children's. He said this kind of initiative, which already is in place in cities across the country, is about treating gun violence as a public health crisis.

"We are not going to be able to solve this, as an example, with law enforcement alone," said Borrup. "And so part of the intervention is working with that family to ensure that violence doesn't happen to them again and to figure out in their own life, what can we do to ensure that?"

The initiative is supported through $2 million in American Rescue Plan funds. The hospitals are in the process of hiring an intervention specialist who will work with organizations to connect survivors with services, including mentoring and home visits.

Illinois has a new law banning the sale and possession of "ghost guns," essentially untraceable firearms that are sold in kit-form online or at gun shows and then assembled at home.

According to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, the kits lack a serial number and can therefore skirt traditional gun-tracing methods used by law enforcement.

At a news conference yesterday, Gov J.B. Pritzker said the new policy will require folks to register their ghost guns in the next six months to make tracing possible - a policy he pointed out already is standard practice for any other firearm.

"A convicted domestic abuser should not be able to evade scrutiny by using a 3D printer to make a gun," said Pritzker. "This law will ban those ghost guns and others, and will help keep families and communities safe."

Illinois' ban comes the month after President Joe Biden announced new regulations on ghost guns.

That measure would only permit kits produced by federally licensed manufacturers, require dealers and gunsmiths to add tracking numbers to ghost guns already in circulation, and require anyone purchasing a gun kit from a licensed seller to pass a background check.

State Sen. Jackie Collins is one of the measure's lead sponsors. The Chicago Democrat said Biden's new policies don't go far enough and Illinois' new law will place the responsibility for registering ghost guns in the hands of individual citizens, not manufacturers and sellers.

"Without this provision," said Collins, "ghost guns will continue to find their way into the hands of those who seek to harm others."

At least ten other states and Washington, D.C, already have enacted bans on ghost guns, and cities and local governments across the country have their own policies on the firearms.

According to the White House, approximately 20,000 suspected ghost guns were recovered by U.S. law enforcement last year, up ten-fold from 2016.

Pennsylvania stands ready to implement a new Biden administration federal rule on ghost-gun regulations at the state level.

Ghost guns are unserialized firearms that can be bought online and assembled at home, making them untraceable. The Biden regulation will ensure partially manufactured frames and receivers require a background check at the point of sale, along with requiring dealers and gunsmiths in the state to serialize and inventory any unregistered firearms coming into their businesses.

Gov. Tom Wolf said ghost guns are fueling the gun-violence crisis in Pennsylvania.

"The numbers don't lie," Wolf asserted. "Ghost guns are being seized and recovered from crime scenes at an alarming rate. Combined, the Pennsylvania State Police and Philadelphia Police have recorded 147 seizures of ghost guns already this year."

The federal regulation will take effect 120 days from April 26, the date it was published in the
Federal Register. Gun deaths in the United States hit an all-time high in 2020, with more than 45,000 people killed from firearm-related injuries, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Michael Muldrow, police commissioner of York, said they have already confiscated 10 ghost guns in the first four months of the year. He added ghost guns have made it more challenging to solve violent crimes and hold those responsible accountable.

"Gun violence is the number one threat our communities are facing throughout this county, across this state and around this country," Muldrow stated. "And the one thing I hope we can all agree on, no matter what side of the line you may fall, is doing the things that we need to do to stop the flow of illegal guns into our neighborhoods."

In 2019, Pennsylvania began classifying "80% receivers," mostly-assembled frames often used to make ghost guns, as firearms, requiring a serial number and background check to purchase.