The ATF, charged with policing the gun industry, lets dealers get away with falsifying records and selling firearms without background checks.
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American lives, shaped by guns.
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Community Violence
As city leaders double down on policing amid a spike in shootings, a new idea is gaining hold among experts: could less policing actually reduce gun violence?
Civil liberties advocates worry the NYPD is repeating the mistakes it made with its gangs list — and that innocent people are being tracked without even knowing it.
Law Enforcement
Artist and activist Tracy Brown is pressuring the feds to terminate the "Rubber Dummie" contract.
Ask The Trace
A reader asks about a provision in the new Violence Against Women Act that requires the federal government to notify local officials when someone fails a background check.
How We Fix This
The city hopes that providing officers and residents the space and tools to listen to each other can remedy distrust and prevent further violence.
The Industry
The development comes after an investigation by The Trace and NBC Bay Area found police are violating state law by not logging guns into the database so they can be traced.
ATF
An internal report urged the ATF to open up its exclusive contract. Instead the contract was renewed, and several ATF officials went to work for the contractor.
For more than a decade, agencies have flouted a state law requiring them to use a tool that policing experts say can help reduce gun violence.
At least 245 people have been fatally shot by authorities while in possession of replica firearms in the last six years, according to a Washington Post database.
The modern defund movement has roots in Baltimore activism. A new focus on bringing residents into city budgeting could inform the national movement.
City officials have repeatedly blamed gangs for driving up shootings. But analysis shows that the Chicago Police Department’s own data doesn’t back up its leaders' claims.
The city quietly renewed its multi-million dollar contract with ShotSpotter. But a growing body of evidence suggests the technology is ineffective and activists say it leads to deadly over-policing.
Law
Victim advocates and law enforcement officials say that a new state law taking aim at federal gun rules could hamstring attempts to disarm abusers and prevent local authorities from reporting stores for failing to run background checks.
A conversation with Professor Sarah Seo, whose work explores the fraught history of traffic enforcement and the problems that emerge when officers get to decide whose cars to stop.
Newark’s Police Department went a full calendar year without shooting a civilian. But with cops still using force disproportionately against Black residents, activists are split on the future of public safety there.
