Last year, an investigation by The Trace, CBS News, and Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting found that more than 52,000 former police guns resurfaced in homicides, shootings, robberies, and other crimes between 2006 and 2022. Since then, The Trace’s Champe Barton and CBS News’ Chris Hacker report, over a dozen agencies have pledged to stop reselling their guns or are reconsidering the practice. The change also comes after the ATF warned in January that agencies should be cautious of reselling their guns because of their potential involvement in violent crimes.
Police forces generally resell weapons because gun stores offer trade-in value, allowing departments to offset the cost of equipment upgrades and, authorities have argued, save taxpayer money. Agencies that opt against reselling miss out on potential trade-in value and have to pay a company to destroy them.
Researchers say that while trade-ins can cut an agency’s costs by tens of thousands of dollars, taxpayers ultimately bear the financial burden of the violence wrought by resold police guns — a price that can far outstrip savings on new equipment.
The Trace and CBS reached out to 60 agencies to see how their policies have changed since the release of the story. Read more about their responses in the latest update on the investigation.
From The Trace
In the Trump Era, One Gun Reform Group Shifts Focus From Politics to Economics: Hudson Munoz of Guns Down America talks to The Trace about how his group is working to upend the market for firearms.
Several Law Enforcement Agencies Have Stopped Reselling Guns: The shift comes after an investigation by The Trace, CBS News, and Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting linked former police guns to crimes.
What to Know Today
The Trump administration has removed former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s historic advisory on gun violence from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website. Murthy issued the advisory to make it clear that gun violence is “a public health issue that we should address the way we’ve addressed other public health issues in the past,” he told The Trace last summer. “Most importantly, I wanted people to know that there’s something we can do about this problem.” The Philadelphia Center for Gun Violence Reporting archived the advisory; it can still be viewed here. [The Guardian]
The At-risk Intervention and Mentoring Program in Denver, Colorado, is an in-hospital initiative that supports shooting survivors and their families. Programs like AIM use a public health approach to address gun violence across the country, by looking into inadequate housing, job loss, or feelings of insecurity in one’s neighborhood. But with the Trump administration possibly severing trillions of dollars of funding for these programs, the future of AIM — like other gun violence prevention programs — is at risk. [KFF Health News]
U.S. District Court Judge Dabney L. Friedrich pushed back on the pardons that President Donald Trump granted to the 1,500 or so people convicted of crimes in relation to the January 6 riot. The pardons were meant to cover “offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021,” but in recent weeks, the Justice Department has expanded the pardons to include offenses not directly connected to the day, like possessing illegal firearms. Friedrich issued an order last Thursday to look into the clemency decree and “enforce the presidential pardon as written.” [The New York Times]
World Wrestling Entertainment co-founder Linda McMahon was confirmed as the new head of the Department of Education on March 3. During a three-hour confirmation hearing last month, GOP and Democratic senators asked her about teacher pay, transgender athletes, and more — but school shootings never came up. Gun violence prevention advocates worry that McMahon’s leadership indicates that the Trump administration won’t prioritize firearm safety policies — potentially putting kids at risk. [The 19th]
A federal appeals court upheld a Florida law — enacted after the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, Florida — banning gun sales to people under 21. The ruling is a major addition to a series of divergent opinions on age restrictions for guns. In January, experts told The Trace that the split means the Supreme Court is likely to intervene. [11th Circuit]
Haiti’s criminal gangs are increasingly using smugglers from Florida to boost their supply of firearms, including military-grade and higher-caliber weapons. Traffickers are using alternative routes and tactics to bring illegal guns to the neighboring Dominican Republic and more remote parts of Haiti. American-sourced firearms have fueled widespread violence in Haiti. [Miami Herald]
Gun violence took two of Cynthia Green’s sons, and left another paralyzed — events that have led her to believe a person’s background, whether they are involved in criminal activity or have a record, plays a part in how a detective solves a crime. Two of her sons’ cases ended in having suspects arrested, but the third case has never been resolved. “I do think it makes a difference who you are, or who they think you are, and if they think it is worth it,” Green said. “And that’s not how it should be.” [Chicago Sun-Times]
Data Point
About 6 percent — the proportion of Chicago nonfatal shootings that lead to arrests. [Chicago Sun Times]
Non Sequitur
‘Sunrise on the Reaping’ is a cornucopia of iconic ‘Hunger Games’ characters: See whoMay the odds be ever in your favor for getting the new Hunger Games book, ‘Sunrise of the Reaping’. [USA Today]
