The Trace needs your help to shine a light on America’s gun violence crisis. If you work or have worked for a law enforcement agency, for the federal government, in the gun industry, or at an advocacy organization of any political stripe and have evidence of wrongdoing, or confidential information that you wish to share with our newsroom, please consider this page your guide to ensuring that your tip gets into the right hands, and gets there securely.
Please do not send feedback, story ideas, pitches, or press releases through these channels — contact info for general correspondence can be found on our about page.
Who Covers What
You can reach individual Trace journalists at the email address provided with their beat summaries below. If security or confidentiality is a concern, please scroll down for a guide to encrypted communication.
- Will Van Sant is an investigative reporter who covers the gun lobby, primarily the National Rifle Association, and other forces influencing the gun debate in America. He can be reached at [email protected] and on Signal at 917-575-9748.
- Alain Stephens is our Western Correspondent. He covers the gun industry, gun policy, and law enforcement. His email is [email protected].
- Champe Barton covers community violence and the gun industry. He can be reached via email at [email protected] or [email protected] and on Signal at (929) 269-4462.
If you’re unsure of who to contact, you can always email us at [email protected].
Secure Submission Tools
Signal
Security level: High
Difficulty of use: Easy
Signal is an encryption app popular among journalists and leakers for its security. It does not collect metadata on your messages, and does not upload your message history to the cloud. Signal is also open source: That means its code is constantly being tested — and improved — by developers around the world.
What to do
What to expect
- If your message isn’t addressed to a particular member of our staff, we will direct it to them.
- Someone will respond in a timely manner.
Security level: Moderate
Difficulty of use: Easy
WhatsApp is a mobile messaging service owned by Facebook that provides end-to-end encryption on all of its services: text, photo, and video messaging; voice calls; and document sharing. While Whatsapp cannot read the contents of your messages or see the files you send, the company records who you communicate with and when.
What to do
What to expect
- If your message isn’t addressed to a particular member of our staff, we will direct it to them.
- Someone will respond in a timely manner.
Encrypted Email
Security level: Moderate
Difficulty of use: Moderate
Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) is a software that allows you to send encrypted messages and documents. When communications are encrypted, only the sender and recipient can read them. Using PGP can be complicated, so we recommend installing Mailvelope, a Chrome and Firefox extension that simplifies the process. While Mailvelope will encrypt the messages or documents that you send over email, it will not encrypt metadata such as the sender, recipient, subject line, or timestamp. This metadata will be available to your email provider.
If you would prefer to send us a PGP message without Mailvelope, we welcome that too.
What to do
- Download the Mailvelope browser extension for Chrome or Firefox.
- Use the extension to generate a new PGP key pair for yourself.
- You can either manually add public keys for our writers, or you can simply type in a writer’s email when first composing a message in Mailvelope’s editor. Our writers are all listed in Mailvelope’s key directory, so the software will automatically search for and add their public keys based on an e-mail address. You can also find all our writers’ Public PGP keys on our About Us page.
- If you’re sending a plain text e-mail, follow Mailvelope’s instructions on how to compose, sign, and send encrypted messages.
- If you’re sending an attachment, follow Mailvelope’s instructions on how to encrypt files.
What to expect
- We’ll respond to you via PGP upon receipt of your encrypted message.
- We will not contact you by any other means that might compromise your anonymity, unless you feel safe doing so.
USPS Mail
Security level: High
Difficulty of use: Easy
U.S. postal mail without a return address is one of the most secure ways to communicate. Our mailing address is:
The Trace
435 Merchant Walk Square
Suite 300-74
Charlottesville, VA 22902
What to do
- If you know who you want to reach, include their name on the outside or inside of your package or envelope. You can also simply address it to “The Trace.”
- We recommend you use a public mailbox.
- You can mail us paper materials or digital files on a thumb drive.
- Include instructions indicating how you would like to be contacted, if you desire to speak with a reporter.
What to expect
- Once we receive your letter or package, we’ll contact you only if you instruct us to.