The business of America's guns

Sender line: "Guacamaya."

It's not every day 10 million secret records are handed over to you.

That's what happened earlier this year when an anonymous hacking collective known as “Guacamaya” spilled a dossier of secrets with Paste BN and other news outlets via the transparency organization Distributed Denial of Secrets, or DDoSecrets.

Paste BN investigative reporter Nick Penzenstadler started sifting through the data. As the newsroom's journalist who tracks the ins and outs of the firearms industry, he wanted to find any nugget that might tell him more about the reality of America's gun business. He ended up discovering records of U.S. gun shops and smugglers tied to 78,000 firearms recovered south of the border – and which types of guns are being trafficked.

👋 Nicole Fallert here and welcome to Your Week, our newsletter exclusively for Paste BN subscribers (that's you!). This week, we talk with Penzenstadler about the firearm industry in America.

But first, don't miss these stories made possible by your Paste BN subscription:

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Telling the story of America's guns

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives might not be on your radar. But for Penzenstadler, the law enforcement agency of the Justice Department is a constant source of curiosity: How does the ATF regulate the gun industry, a business defined by secrecy and stigma?

"The world wants to know more about the flow of guns," Penzenstadler said. "It's a secret industry. Piercing that secrecy is really important and hard."

For legal gunowners, Penzenstadler explores how easy it is for them to participate in illegal firearm networks without even realizing it. Nick's advice to readers: "It's scary to think even rule-abiding gun owners can be turned on their heads by this system. It's important to be informed, to know there are criminals exploiting loopholes and well-meaningful people involved. Gun shops can be victims just by their location and volume. Be aware of that environment."

For bad actors, he shapes his reporting around the structures these people exploit to profit. In his latest findings, he traced how guns from American shops are so easily trafficked to Mexico to aid cartel violence.

The subject matter is heavy lifting on a daily basis, but Penzenstadler said it's vital that newsrooms like Paste BN make an effort to cover these stories because they're too often under the radar. (For reporting about the impact of gun violence on American lives, he recommends checking out stories by Paste BN's Suzette Hackney).

"You can't fake it," he said. "It takes years to build up the basic knowledge of how firearms work, how the industry works, who holds the power, what's important to gun owners and gun sellers, and gun safety groups that are trying to push back. It's all about shining a light on things that are secret, looking for opportunities to tell novel things."

It takes "a lot of time and patience" to expose the firearms industry and connect some of these dots, he said.

"The ATF continues to fall short on their mission," he said. "The industry they're supposed to regulate is unwieldy. We are trying to put them under a microscope and when there are bad actors we shine a light on them."

Read more from Paste BN about guns in America

• Hunter Biden's gun case was spurred by an ATF form. The shop violated federal law.
• These graphics show the avalanche of guns from the U.S. to Mexico.
• Here's how kids can access ammo in a few clicks.
• Taking on black-market guns, Biden administration issues new rules on unlicensed dealers.

Thank you

Nick's reporting demonstrates the unique insights our newsroom can publish when given the resources. Thank you for supporting our journalism with your subscription. Our work wouldn't be possible without you. 

Best wishes, 

Nicole Fallert