Long Shadow

Raised on active shooter and lockdown drills, Gen Z has endured an onslaught of violence — and emerged inspiring a wave of activism, a powerful gun safety movement, and hope.

After a devastating, now largely forgotten, mass-shooting prompted lawmakers to take aim at assault weapons in the 1990s, their ban backfired — and caused gun sales to explode.

The Second Amendment may have begun as a Constitutional afterthought, but a late 20th-century ideological shift caused some to view it as a sacred right in the name of self defense.

This season host Garrett Graff, in collaboration with The Trace, recounts how a very specific, carefully manufactured fear has driven explosive demand for guns across the U.S. It’s the history of how firearms went from being an ordinary part of rural American life to a menacing element in modern society — and the epidemic of gun violence that’s come with it. How did we get here — how did America get so divided over guns — and can we we find a way forward? Find out, this season on LONG SHADOW.LONG SHADOW: IN GUNS WE TRUST is produced by Long Lead and Campside Media in collaboration with The Trace, and is distributed by PRX.

After Trump’s election, far-right extremism explodes, and internet racism boils over into the real world. From Charleston to Charlottesville to Christchurch, experts warn of a race war.

Using conspiracy theories and anger to amass enormous audiences in the 1990s, Rush Limbaugh and Bill Cooper pave the way for Fox News to mainstream far-right outrage.

The government lays siege to Ruby Ridge, Idaho, where Randy Weaver and his family are hiding out in the shadow of a growing white supremacist movement, a year before Waco.

The Ruby Ridge raid, the Waco siege at the Branch Davidian compound, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Jan. 6 insurrection… they are all explosive moments in recent U.S. history. But connect the dots between these—and other—seemingly disparate, violent events, and you’ll answer some of the most existential questions facing the U.S. today: How did America get the far right so wrong? What will it take now to get it right? In LONG SHADOW’s first season, host Garrett Graff examined the lingering questions of 9/11, the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil. Season two, LONG SHADOW: RISE OF THE AMERICAN FAR RIGHT, explores how the modern domestic extremist movement grew from a fatal shootout on a mountain top in Idaho, was fanned by a fiery fiasco on the plains of Texas, and ultimately led to a riot on the steps of the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C.Crackling with rich archival tape and riveting eyewitness and expert interviews, this seven-episode narrative podcast examines a thread of history that’s vitally relevant to our current political climate. It will help listeners understand why the fringe is overrunning the mainstream, conspiracy theorists have captured offices in Congress, and peaceful protests are turning into riots. How did we get here? Find out by following and listening to LONG SHADOW: RISE OF THE AMERICAN FAR RIGHT. Co-produced by Long Lead and Campside Media