New gun laws in 2025 | The Excerpt
On Wednesday’s episode of The Excerpt podcast: New gun laws are coming in 2025. Drugmakers will raise U.S. prices on over 250 medicines starting January 1. Paste BN National Trending Desk Editor Amanda Lee Myers discusses Dry January. What stories are we keeping an eye on in 2025? Paste BN Reporter Karissa Waddick talks about the popularity of polar plunging.
Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
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Taylor Wilson:
Good morning and Happy New Year. I'm Taylor Wilson and today is Wednesday, January 1st, 2025. This is The Excerpt. Today, what the new year means for changes to gun laws, plus is Dry January for you, and we talk about the history behind polar plunging.
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A new year means new gun laws across the country. While violent crime rates appear to be falling after a pandemic-related spike, gun violence continues to plague communities around the country. In 2024, there have been nearly 500 mass shootings according to a database maintained by Gun Violence America. President Joe Biden has spoken of his administration's work aimed at reducing gun violence, including passing the most significant gun safety legislation in nearly 30 years. States have also taken steps to pass their own gun regulations. By and large, the state laws related to guns taking effect this year enforce gun safety according to the gun violence prevention organization, Everytown for Gun Safety.
In Colorado, for example, any handgun stored inside an unoccupied vehicle must be in a locked, hard-sided container that is out of plain view, and the vehicle also must be locked with some exceptions. Later in the year, Coloradans who want to apply for a concealed carry permit will be required to complete an eight-hour training class, which includes a written exam and a live fire exercise. And in California, laws going into effect include requirements for firearm dealers to provide consumers with a pamphlet covering the reasons for and risks of firearm ownership.
Elsewhere, New Hampshire's New Year laws bolster gun rights and Kentucky joins a list of states that have passed laws to prohibit assigning a code for gun retailers known as a merchant category code. The so-called MCCs can be used by financial institutions to see what kinds of purchases are made though it does not show the specific item purchased.
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Drug makers plan to raise US prices on at least 250 branded medications beginning today. They include Pfizer's COVID-19 treatment, PAXLOVID, Bristol Myers Squibb cancer cell therapies and vaccines from France's Sanofi according to data analyzed by the healthcare research firm, 3 Axis Advisors. The median price increase of the drugs being hiked January 1st is 4.5%, which is in line with the median for all price increases last year.
A Reuters analysis of prices for new drugs found that pharmaceutical companies launched new US drugs in 2023 at prices 35% higher than in 2022. The US pays more for prescription medications than any other country and incoming President Donald Trump has vowed to lower drug costs by focusing on middlemen in the US health care system. More drug price increases are likely to be announced by other drug makers over the course of January, historically, the biggest month for drug makers to raise prices.
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As January arrives, so too does Dry January for many folks. I caught up with Paste BN, National Trending Desk Editor, Amanda Lee Myers for more. Hello, Amanda.
Amanda Lee Myers:
Hi, how are you?
Taylor Wilson:
Good, good. Thanks for hopping on today on this. So January is here, so is Dry January. I think this has really gained steam a lot in recent years. But for folks who aren't familiar, Amanda, what exactly is Dry January and how did it originate?
Amanda Lee Myers:
Dry January is just a really simple concept. Starting on January 1st through the 31st, you abstain from drinking alcohol and the whole idea is just a reset. A lot of people tend to over-imbibe at the holidays and just let things go. And January 1st can offer a fresh start for people to kickstart a number of health goals, weight loss, fitness, and not drinking alcohol just fosters all of that.
And the way it started really makes a lot of sense. It was a British woman named Emily Robinson. She was training for a half-marathon in February 2011, and as part of that, she decided to stop drinking because she thought she'd be able to get up early and hit her running goals easier. And she found that she was right. She noticed how great she felt and she ended up co-founding something called Alcohol Change UK. And that is considered the home of Dry January.
Taylor Wilson:
So Amanda, you touched on this a bit, but there are really some tangible health benefits of Dry January, right?
Amanda Lee Myers:
Yeah, I mean, myself included, people I've talked to have noticed that you sleep better, you have more energy, you might be in a better mood because you're not waking up hungover if you've had too much. And then along with that, your diet might just improve even if you're not trying to improve your diet because sometimes when we drink, we tend to overeat as well. And so the result of all that equals a desire to be more active, more motivation, and therefore, often weight loss comes hand in hand with it.
Taylor Wilson:
Okay, so Stateside, how many Americans are sober curious? And what does it really mean to be sober curious?
Amanda Lee Myers:
I think sober curious just means you've been drinking for however long, maybe you're a binge drinker. Maybe you don't drink every day, but maybe you have noticed you're drinking more than you want to, and you probably have at least one friend or family member who maybe used to be an alcoholic and isn't anymore. And so momentum ends up building and people just start wondering, maybe I can do this too. They see that one friend who's drinking non-alcoholic beer or non-alcoholic cocktails out at dinner every time they get together. Hey, if they can do it, maybe I can do it.
But it can be an uphill climb and I think that's where you get the sober curious. Some people aren't ready to just dive right in because a lot of people use alcohol to celebrate milestones or unwind after work. So it can become a crutch for a lot of different occasions. But yeah, studies have shown that increasingly, Americans are getting more and more interested in this as time goes by and as we learn more about the ill effects of alcohol. Even if you're not binge-drinking or drinking every single day, there are doctors who are saying no amount of alcohol is safe for people to drink and we're learning more about that.
There are studies that have shown 42% of Americans are sober curious, which is a much higher figure than in the past. And we also can see that in sales of non-alcoholic beverages. They have been going up and up and up and more companies are getting involved in this. They're creating more options for people, which just makes it easier on the people who are trying to stop drinking.
Taylor Wilson:
Wow. So what are some tips for folks listening thinking, hey, this might be a good idea for my life this month? What are some tips for a successful Dry January?
Amanda Lee Myers:
As someone who has done Dry January for multiple years, I think the biggest tip for success is finding a substitute drink, especially if you open a bottle of wine to celebrate something or hey, it's Friday and I want to unwind. You create a special experience when you do that, so you need to have a substitute drink for those moments. I really like sparkling water. Flavored sparkling water is a really good idea. They have so many more flavors out there now than when they first started. A lot of people really like mocktails, really like creating the feeling that they're drinking a cocktail without the alcohol.
Another big one is to avoid temptations. If you have 10 bottles of wine sitting on your counter, I mean, that's going to be a huge temptation. So maybe just put them away for January or however long you want to do that or give them away as gifts even. Another big one is to try not doing it alone. Enlist your partner or a best friend or a family group. Maybe there's a group text where you are all talking every day about this. Just something to make you feel like you're not in on this alone.
And then there's an app that can even help. It's free. It's called Try Dry. And the app will actually help you track how much money you've saved not drinking alcohol, which can really add up. And it also tracks goals and things like mood and sleep monitoring and things like that. And then another tip is you might slip up. Maybe you get together with friends for dinner on a Friday, mid-January and they open a bottle of champagne and you have a glass. It's not the end of the world, just start over the next day.
Taylor Wilson:
All right. Amanda Lee Myers is National Trending Desk Editor with Paste BN. Thank you so much, Amanda. Happy New Year.
Amanda Lee Myers:
You're welcome. Thank you so much. Happy New Year.
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Taylor Wilson:
There may be no major presidential election, no more Taylor Swift Eras Tour, and no extremely rare celestial event to look forward to in 2025, but there is plenty more to come in the new year. The calendar will begin with a national day of mourning for former President Jimmy Carter on January 9th, followed by the inauguration of President-Elect Donald Trump on January 20th. We'll get plenty of major criminal trials including that of Diddy and Luigi Mangione, and a potential ban on one of the most popular social media apps in the country, TikTok.
And in pop culture, Hollywood will celebrate a number of major awards shows leading up to the Oscars on March 2nd. Major movie releases will include Wicked Part II, a third installment of the Avatar movies at the end of the year, and new titles from directors Bong Joon-Ho and Wes Anderson. For more on what we're keeping an eye on as we turn the calendar page, check out a link in today's show notes.
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Polar plunging has emerged as one of the coolest health trends in recent years, but cold water swimming has been an American tradition for well over a century. I spoke with Paste BN reporter, Karissa Waddick to learn more. Hello, Karissa. Happy New Year.
Karissa Waddick:
Happy New Year.
Taylor Wilson:
So Karissa, let's just get to the basics here. What is polar plunging and what's some of the history here?
Karissa Waddick:
So polar plunging is essentially the act of either running into or dipping yourself into ice-cold water. People have been doing it for thousands of years. Ancient Greeks even used cold therapy. But in the US, the tradition dates back to the early 1900s. A group called The Coney Island Polar Bear Club hosted the first recorded polar bear plunge on New Year's Day in 1903, and that's when essentially a bunch of people run into ocean water. You've probably seen it on TV, run in. They happen across the US throughout the winter. The trend has also though, taken off on social media in recent years, and a lot of people will do polar plunging in their homes and their backyards or bodies of water near them all year round.
Taylor Wilson:
So to people who have never done this, it might seem a little bit absurd, but why do people do this? What did the folks who you spoke with say about it?
Karissa Waddick:
Like with anything, there are a variety of reasons people do this. One of the most common that I heard from the people I spoke with was that it's about endurance. It helps put the world in focus for them. It's about regaining control under adversity. Somebody called it a Stoic exercise around pain tolerance. It's the hardest thing they'll do all week, and if they can do this, then they can get through anything. For other people, they said they get a rush from doing it. It's invigorating. They feel happy and energized.
And then for a lot of people there was this social aspect to it. People do plunge alone in their backyard, but a lot of people also do it with others. And they have this feeling of overcoming pain in this setting that builds community. They see it almost like going to church or joining a sports team. It's just a way of connecting with other people. And then one of the other last reasons that I heard was also charity. A lot of these groups that do polar plunging together, these polar bear clubs, come together and raise money for organizations in their area. So it's a lot of different things for a lot of different people.
Taylor Wilson:
And Karissa, are there tangible health benefits here? I mean, what do the experts say on that point?
Karissa Waddick:
So not really. Experts say that there aren't a lot of health benefits that they've been able to find evidence for. There's a lot of claimed benefits floating around on the internet, but experts say the only proven positive effect of ice bathing that they've been able to really pinpoint is a rise in dopamine and endorphin levels. So going back to what some of those people said about why they like doing this polar plunging, the main physical benefit is really that it causes the brain to release these chemicals that make you feel good.
Taylor Wilson:
Is there any danger or downside here, Karissa? I mean, it does seem like things could maybe go awry in a hurry.
Karissa Waddick:
Yes, certainly. It can cause a rapid increase in heart and blood pressure when you cold dip. And so that added strain on the heart can be really dangerous, particularly for people with cardiovascular issues. Also, the prolonged and repeated exposure to these cold conditions can cause injuries that actually decrease people's tolerance to cold and increase pain syndromes for some.
Taylor Wilson:
All right. So for listeners thinking, hey, maybe I want to get involved with polar plunging this winter, can you relay any tips for folks who want to start plunging?
Karissa Waddick:
Yeah, the experts I spoke with had a few. So one of them is don't overdo it. It's a two to three minute plunge does the trick. The longer you stay in after this timeframe is a little bit more dangerous. And with that, it's also important to note that cold plunging isn't one size fits all. So if you're in there for 30 seconds and you say I'm done, there's no reason to stay in for that extra time. And it will affect your body differently than it'll affect other people's.
Also, if you are fully plunging, you want to protect your hands and your feet to avoid some of those cold injuries. And if you want to try it, but you don't, you're worried about the risks, they say that a less risky method is just taking a really cold shower. You can control that and it's safe and might provide some of the same effects as plunging.
Taylor Wilson:
Maybe a nice beginner's version there for some folks. Karissa Waddick covers Congress, campaigns, and democracy for Paste BN. Thank you, Karissa.
Karissa Waddick:
Thanks so much.
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Taylor Wilson:
Thanks for listening to The Excerpt. I hope you have a great new year. I'm Taylor Wilson, and I'll be back tomorrow with more of The Excerpt from Paste BN.