The ATF, charged with policing the gun industry, lets dealers get away with falsifying records and selling firearms without background checks.
The programs, policies, and people driving positive change in America’s gun violence problem.
American lives, shaped by guns.
The National Rifle Association is one of the most powerful special interest groups in America. We’re investigating how it spends its money.
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Ghost Guns
Less than a month after the ATF required serial numbers and background checks for "buy-build-shoot" kits, sellers have found a workaround.
The Industry
New laws in California, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York create an opening for governments and private citizens to hold gunmakers accountable for violence.
Publicly traded gun and ammo companies have raked in unprecedented profits during the pandemic.
Law Enforcement
Artist and activist Tracy Brown is pressuring the feds to terminate the "Rubber Dummie" contract.
A report from the Chicago mayor’s office named gun stores whose wares consistently wound up in city crimes. ATF records show the agency was lenient.
Concealed Carry
A vaguely worded law requires applicants to fire a gun under the supervision of an instructor. It's inspired some training companies to meet the requirement in creative ways.
The Trace previously reported that the company declared bankruptcy and rebranded multiple times, avoiding lawsuits and investigations.
The Business of Guns
With VICE News, we document the rise of the auto sear, a small, cheap device that converts a semiautomatic firearm into an automatic one. Court records show that auto sears have been used in robberies, homicides, and extremist attacks.
For decades, fully automatic weapons were expensive, collectable, and rarely used in crimes. Auto sears, which can cost less than $20 online, have changed that.
A federal appeals court vacated an earlier ruling that could have required the gun company to comply with a subpoena from the New Jersey attorney general.
Mass Shooting
The gunmaker agreed to pay a $73 million settlement, which will allow it to shield some details about the industry’s internal workings.
The finding from Rutgers University researchers comes as the Biden administration pursues a harder line against noncompliant gun dealers.
The Trace's reporting has shown that JA Industries is largely a clone of Jimenez Arms, which declared bankruptcy in what experts said was an effort to avoid accountability for unscrupulous business practices.
Gun Trafficking
American firearms power a brutal conflict that has claimed more than 100,000 lives.
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.
