Last week, the ATF released its fourth and final installment of a multiyear gun trafficking assessment requested by President Joe Biden in 2021. The report, released less than two weeks before Donald Trump’s return to the White House, contains a trove of information about the country’s gun violence crisis and policy recommendations for countering it. Among the key points:

  • The ATF cautioned state and local law enforcement against reselling their used guns to the public, saying the practice has sent tens of thousands of old police weapons into the hands of criminals. The recommendation came after an investigation by The Trace, CBS News, and Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting found that more than 52,000 former police guns had resurfaced at crime scenes over the past two decades — a pipeline fueled in part by the widespread practice of selling used guns back to firearms dealers for discounts on new equipment. The Trace’s Champe Barton has more in a follow-up on the data last week.
  • Police recovered more than 27,000 homemade, untraceable ghost guns in 2023. That figure is up less than 1 percent from 2022, the smallest year-over-year increase on record. That suggests that increased regulation under the Biden administration is fueling a reversal of the ghost gun surge. (As The Trace’s Chip Brownlee reported in November, police departments in a few big cities reported declines in ghost gun recoveries in 2023.)
  • At least 36 percent of all guns traced by Mexican authorities between 2022 and 2023 were originally purchased in the United States. More than two-thirds of the American-bought guns were purchased in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.

The ATF assessment comes not only at the tail end of Biden’s presidency, but also as Steve Dettelbach steps down as director. The current administration has increased oversight of the firearms industry and taken action on rules concerning DIY gun kits and firearm accessories. One of those rules is the subject of a case before the Supreme Court: In Garland v. VanDerStok, justices are weighing the constitutionality of the ATF’s serial number and background check requirements for sellers of “ready to build” ghost gun kits.

In March, the high court will hear oral arguments in a case that will decide if a lawsuit by the Mexican government against some of America’s largest gunmakers can move forward. Mexico has accused the manufacturers — including Glock, Smith & Wesson, and Colt — of aiding and abetting the trafficking of weapons across the border, alleging that those violations have led to the smuggling of hundreds of thousands of firearms across the border every year, causing violence in Mexico to soar.

The ATF is both a law enforcement agency and the main federal regulatory body over the firearms industry, and the gun lobby and its congressional allies have long worked to limit its powers and resources. Under Trump and a GOP-controlled Congress, the ATF faces the spectre of further budget cuts, Dettelbach told CBS earlier this month. The day before the latest trafficking report was released, a group of Republicans in the House, including Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert, announced the “Abolish the ATF Act,” intended to eliminate the agency altogether.

— Sunny Sone, senior editor

From The Trace

ATF Urges Police to Reconsider Reselling Used Guns: The agency’s recommendation comes less than a year after an investigation by The Trace found that thousands of used police guns were involved in crimes.

What We Learned From Analyzing 10 Years of Shooting Data: A Trace series challenges what many people might think about gun violence in America. Here are the highlights.

How Many People Were Killed by the Pandemic Surge in Shootings?: In a new analysis, The Trace figured out the number of people who might have lived if gun violence had remained at its 2019 level.

How We Analyzed the Toll of the Pandemic Shooting Surge: These are the methods we used to determine how many people might have lived if gun violence didn’t spike during the COVID-19 pandemic.

What to Know Today

President-elect Donald Trump received a sentence of unconditional discharge in his New York hush money case on Friday, cementing his conviction but ruling out jail time, fines, and probation. Though the sentence is free of penalties, the felonies on Trump’s criminal record mean that he is barred from possessing guns under federal law. [Associated Press

Gun violence survivors in Chicago say that access to mental health care is crucial for recovering from the trauma of a shooting. During his campaign, Mayor Brandon Johnson promised to prioritize such services, but survivors say they still struggle to access sufficient resources. Last week, mental health services returned to a city-run facility on the South Side, bringing such care to the area for the first time in years. Officials also announced that Chicago would expand its mental health crisis response program. [Block Club Chicago

Wyoming’s top five elected officials voted to allow citizens to carry concealed guns inside the state Capitol, part of a process kicked off by Governor Mark Gordon after he vetoed legislation to allow concealed carry in state buildings more broadly. Government staff said existing statutes that ban guns at public meetings could cloud implementation of the new rule in the short term. [WyoFile

In 2022, Iowans approved an amendment to their state Constitution requiring judges to apply “strict scrutiny” to firearm regulations, a legal test meant to present a difficult legal hurdle for new gun restrictions. In a recent case, the state Supreme Court made a first attempt to interpret the provision — and the outcome, writes Brennan Center fellow Eric Ruben, “was, in a word, wobbly. The splintered decision left more questions than it answered.” [State Court Report

A group of public safety experts and advocates called on New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch to restrict gun access for current or recent officers under scrutiny for violent offenses or serious misconduct, by designating officers as “no-firearm” employees, initiating extreme risk protection orders, or revoking the “good guy letters” they’re typically given after retirement, which can exempt them from some state gun restrictions. [Press release via The Trace

William A. Brewer III’s namesake law firm announced that it will no longer represent the National Rifle Association, a split that comes after a yearslong partnership during which Brewer acted as the group’s top legal strategist and was deeply involved in internal decision-making. As The Trace has reported, Brewer was also a source of scandal: The NRA spent millions on the firm as its membership plummeted, and former NRA executives charged that Brewer was imperiling the organization by prioritizing the interests of then-CEO Wayne LaPierre. The firm’s announcement follows the final chapter of the NRA’s New York corruption trial, which came to an end after a judge last month ordered reforms at the gun group. [The Reload]

The “Pizzagate” gunman who was arrested in 2016 after entering a pizzeria in Washington, D.C., with a loaded AR-15, was killed by North Carolina police during a traffic stop. [The News & Observer

Actor Alec Baldwin is suing the prosecutors and investigators from his dismissed involuntary manslaughter case over the fatal shooting of the cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the movie “Rust.” The lawsuit alleges malicious prosecution, defamation, and civil rights violations. [Associated Press

In Philadelphia, a teen, a mother, and an advocate personally dealt with gun violence within their own lives. Now, they’ve created initiatives and organizations to help the young people in their community who have been touched by the crisis. [NBC Philadelphia

For nearly two years, Alan Filion, known online as “Torswats,” terrorized hundreds of schools, places of worship, and U.S. politicians with “swatting” calls about fake shootings. His reign lasted from August 2022 until January 2024, when he was finally arrested after a private detective tracked him down. [Wired

Assistant engagement editor Victoria Clark contributed to this section. 

Data Point

13.6 million — the number of guns Americans bought in 2024. It was the fourth yearly decline since 2020. [The Trace]

Non Sequitur

9-Year-Old Passes Out Blankets to Help Homeless During Winter 

Malik Ford started the annual event in Indianapolis when he saw that the community needed help. [Good Morning America