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Hi Revealer,

This year, I had the privilege of editing an episode of Reveal that’s making some police departments rethink what they do with their used firearms.

Across the nation, it’s common for law enforcement agencies to trade in their old weapons rather than destroy them. Those used cop guns are then sold to the public, and a staggering number of them are ending up in the hands of criminals. In a collaboration with The Trace and CBS News, reporter Alain Stephens investigates how police guns end up in the hands of criminals.

Stephens and Reveal first reported on this issue more than seven years ago. We knew this was a problem, but we wanted to understand the magnitude: How many guns were we talking about? That figure was a closely guarded secret by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), the agency that traces guns used in crimes.

Reveal sued the ATF for the data, and the agency fought us at every turn. But thanks to the support from our listeners and readers we persevered—fighting for that information for five years—until a federal appeals court ruled in our favor. The ATF finally released the jaw-dropping numbers: Tens of thousands of former police guns are ending up at crime scenes.

The episode highlights the killing of a teenager in Indianapolis with a used police gun. After Indianapolis police heard our story, the chief issued an executive order to change his department’s decades-old policy: It no longer sells its guns to the public.

As interim executive producer of Reveal, I’ve had the opportunity to work on many meaningful investigations this year, and we have lots of new investigations in the pipeline that I’m excited about. But we can’t do this work without your support.

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Our show is broadcast on more than 500 stations and is heard by a million listeners every week. Add in downloads of the Reveal podcast, and that’s another half a million people tuning into Reveal each month. But out of that huge audience, only about 3,000 listeners donate to help pay for the journalism. Imagine the impact we could have if everyone donated!

Public media is built on the idea that people should have access to rigorous, fact-checked, unbiased journalism, even if they can’t afford to donate. But if you are in a position to contribute right now, please do. Your generosity helps keep our award-winning journalism accessible to everyone.

Please help us end this year in a secure financial position. Support the journalism you rely on with a gift at whatever amount works for you.

Thank you,

Taki Telonidis
Interim Executive Producer
Reveal
The Center for Investigative Reporting

The Center for Investigative Reporting

PO Box 584

San Francisco, CA 94104

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