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In cities from coast to coast, the odds that a shooter will be brought to justice are abysmally low and dropping. Police make an arrest in fewer than half of the murders committed with firearms. If the victim survives being shot, the chance of arrest drops to 1 out of 3. Staffing constraints are so dire at many police departments that thousands of nonfatal shooting cases are never even assigned a detective. The shooters are left free to strike again, fueling cycles of violence and eroding the public's trust in law enforcement. The Trace, in partnership with BuzzFeed News and later WTTW, published Free to Shoot Again, a series of stories that interrogates this failure in policing and the toll that it takes on the people who live in the communities most impacted by gun violence.