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How a booming gun business in the U.S. arms Mexico’s cartels

Oct 19, 2023
Easy access to weapons has fueled an underground supply chain that sends firearms and ammo south while drugs and migrants move north.
Assault-style rifles for sale in an American gun store. Many firearms smuggled into Mexico are bought legally in the U.S.
Scott Olson/Getty Images

Why the U.S. stopped researching gun violence: "It's a thing that has set us back decades"

May 31, 2022
John Woodrow Cox of The Washington Post explains how a 1996 legal provision effectively halted research on gun violence.
Flowers and crosses memorialize the 19 children and two teachers killed in a shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images

How school shootings shape survivors’ economic lives

May 26, 2022
Researchers studied the lasting impacts of school shootings on students’ academic and employment prospects later in life.
Community members mourn during a vigil for the 21 lives lost in the attack at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Heavily outspent, gun control groups still press their case

May 26, 2022
Gun rights lobbyists spend more, but gun control groups can focus on reforming states — where they can push for change and pressure businesses.
Though gun control advocates are heavily outspent by gun rights groups, pressuring corporations to cut ties with gun rights groups could be one potential route to success for them.
Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images

Since Sandy Hook killings a decade ago, Congress has put no limits on gun sales

May 25, 2022
In the aftermath of the Sandy Hook shooting, Marketplace looked into background checks and gun purchases. We're revisiting some of that reporting today.
An officer walks outside of Robb Elementary School on May 25. The day before, a gunman killed 19 students and two adults.
Allison Dinner/AFP via Getty Images

New Trump administration rule limits large banks' ability to turn away business

Jan 15, 2021
Large banks can't deny services to businesses, like gun-makers and oil drillers, just based on what they do.
The rule prohibits large banks from refusing to lend to certain business sectors, after Republicans voiced frustration at what they saw as a reluctance by banks to finance gun-makers and energy firms.
Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

With COVID-19 comes a surge in gun sales

Apr 13, 2020
The FBI reports that background checks in March were up. Some of those purchasing guns are doing so for the first time.
People wait in line at Northwest Armory, a gun store in Portland, Ore., on March 21, 2020, two days before the governor issued a stay-at-home order.

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California restricts ammunition sales

Jul 1, 2019
People who want to buy bullets will have to pass a background check.
A box of .45-caliber ammunition. Buyers in California will be subject to extra checks on ammunition.
Scott Olson/Getty Images