The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "gun rights" ...
-
Trail of the Gun
After a wave of gun violence in Seattle, KING 5 examined some of the most basic techniques that police use to solve gun crimes. By analyzing documents received through public records requests the television station learned that most large police departments in Washington state are not conducting routine ballistics tests on the so-called “crime guns” they seize from suspects and crime scenes. This means that guns, that could hold clues to unsolved crimes, are sitting right under investigators’ noses in their own evidence rooms. The investigative series "Trail of the Gun" also unearthed the results of federal firearms “traces”, which police use to determine how a gun ended up in the hands of a criminal. These trace results revealed that a large number of Seattle’s crime guns came from an unexpected place. After the stories aired, several large police departments pledged to begin ballistics testing programs for their crime guns. The Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms offered to assist local police agencies to test every gun in their evidence rooms. And, the feds unveiled a warrant targeting one of the gun dealers identified in the series.
Tags: Guns; gun crimes; police
-
Age of Treason
Sharrock "presents an extensively reported portrait of the Oath Keepers, a self-styled patriot group that has established itself as a hub in the sprawling anti-Obama movement...the group recruits soldiers and law enforcement officers, asking them to reaffirm their oath to hold up the Constitution, but with a twist: they also vow to disobey any "illegal" or "unconstitutional" orders. While the Oath Keepers' official message is nonviolent, Sharrock uncovers how the group attracts conspiracy-minded members who are stockpiling weapons and advocating armed resistance against a government crackdown that they fear is imminent."
Tags: treason; anti-government conspiracy; gun laws; right to bear arms; martial law; Obama; Oath Keepers
-
Wiped Clean
The investigation examines the loopholes in the federal system that allow revoked gun dealers to continue operations. The authors found at least 52 revoked dealers in the country still connected to gun-dealing operations. Because background checks are not required, felons were found practicing shooting at gun shop shooting ranges.
Tags: guns; gun dealers; loophole; background checks; gun rights
-
"Guns & Open Records"
After The Commercial Appeal published a list of people living in Tennessee who had a permit to carry a gun, legislative efforts were made in the state to remove that information as public record. The newspaper used the list to reveal the loose regulations of the "permit process."
Tags: guns; right to carry; permit; gun-carry
-
Gun Show Nation
This investigation explores how and why guns have entered national politics. The author traveled to gun shows, gun stores and gun rights meetings in order to chart America's attachment to guns. She shows how that attachment "affected our democracy by undermining our belief in collective solutions for human security."
Tags: guns; second amendment; gun shows; concealed weapons; gun permits; hunting
-
The Big Gun: Fifty-caliber sniper rifles can shoot through bullet-proof glass and cinderblock walls and hit targets a mile away -- and they're perfectly legal.
This article talks about the dangers of fifty-caliber sniper rifles. According to the author, "The rifles...are the biggest firearms you can buy without a special dispensation from the government. Fifty-caliber rifles shoot ammunition designed to chew up armored vehicles, and they're accurate, in the right hands, at a mile or more. They can shoot through bulletproof glass, armored limousines, cinder-block walls...from as far away as the Washington Monument through the forehead of someone standing on the steps of the Capitol. And any eighteen-year-old can buy one with no more paperwork than it takes to buy a .22 at Wal-Mart."
Tags: guns; violence; fifty-caliber rifles; .50 rifles; rifles; ammunition; long-range guns; bulletproof
-
Those who follow the way of the gun have their many reasons. Just ask them.
The debate over guns plays out in comic strips, flat and bold, pitting gun nuts against clueless liberals. In Missouri's currents collection, the heroes and archvillains do endless battle over citizens' right to carry concealed firearms.
Tags: gun and knife show; hunt; camouflage; semiautomatic guns; family protection; rifles
-
Miami Cops
A Miami Daily Business Review two-year investigation into police criminality reveals "a deadly scandal at the Miami Police Department." The stories document "flaws and bias in the local system used to investigate police shootings." The series started in 2000 with investigation of the death of a 72-year old widower who was machine-gunned by police during a ferocious 1996 drug raid, and of the following $2.5-million settlement of the lawsuit brought by the victim's family. In a federal investigation, Miami officers involved in the shooting were later accused of "conspiracy, lying and fabricating evidence to cover up misconduct," the Review reports. The series also examines "Miami's costly litigation experience over the last decade defending claims of brutality and lawlessness by police."
Tags: indictments; Florida's public record law; crime; litigation; civil rights; SWAT; homicide; conflicts of interest; law enforcement; justice; Miami Office of Professional Compliance; wrongful death; false arrests; abuse
-
Fatal Failures
ABA "uses a compelling narrative chronicling convicted murderer Scott Strothers' obsession with 15-year-old Penny Chang that resulted in his brief hospitalization at the prestigious Cleveland Clinic and ended with Strothers gunning Penny down at a suburban rail station. The story tracks Strothers step-by-step, as doctors, a judge, and even his and Penny's own families failed to realize the depth of his illness and the danger he posed until it was too late."
Tags: mentally ill; individual rights; public safety; prisons
-
David Kairys Takes Aim
Civil rights attorney David Kairys came up with a novel way to sue gun manufacturers. In a Temple Law Review article, Kairys advocated treating guns as like a public nuisance, much like a "noisy bar" or "crack houses." Kairys is particularly interested in suing the makers of handguns, such as Beretta, Bryco, Colt, Glock and Smith & Wesson. He's had a hard time beating the gun lobby in Pennsylvania, which has the second-largest NRA membership in the nation, and more Pennsylvanians "have permits to carry concealed weapons than in any other state..." According to the ATF, slightly more than 1 percent of the dealers fed more than half the criminal market."
Tags: guns; handguns; legal; lawsuit; NRA; civic lawsuit; nuisance; establishment