Reveal’s legal team sued the ATF to compel them to turn over the data on police guns at crime scenes. 

View this email in your browser ([link removed])
[link removed]

Before we get started, we wanted to remind you that our journalism, and this newsletter, are possible because of donations from readers like you. Become a member today and get our latest FACTS shirt!
Support Our Work ([link removed])
[link removed]

This week’s episode: All the President’s Pardons ([link removed])
President Donald Trump has granted clemency to people close to him, like former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to "willfully and knowingly" making false statements to the FBI, and political ally Roger Stone, who was convicted of witness tampering and making false statements. But what about the people who have applied through the official process and are waiting for answers? We go beyond the headlines and tell the story of a system that’s completely broken down.

------------------------------------------------------------


**
A major legal victory in the quest to track guns
------------------------------------------------------------
A box holds seized pistols from a 2013 case at the Vanderburgh County Sheriff's Office in Evansville, Indiana. Credit: Darrin Phegley/Evansville Courier & Press via Associated Press

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives knows how often police guns turn up in crimes. For years, they just wouldn't tell anyone the answer. But now they will have to share that data.

Some police departments sell their used pistols and shotguns ([link removed]) to pay for new weapons. In early 2017, Reveal Investigative Fellow Alain Stephens ([link removed]) wanted to know where the resold police weapons from Texas’ largest departments wound up. He filed a public records request with the ATF to find out. The ATF responded by saying that former police guns were indeed ending up in crimes — but refused to provide any additional details.

Reveal’s legal team sued the ATF to compel them to turn over the data on police guns at crime scenes. Led by General Counsel Victoria Baranetsky, Reveal has argued for the last three years that statistical aggregate gun trace data should be made available to reporters because of an exemption in a 2003 amendment that ushered in a new era of secrecy at the ATF. This month, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals gave Reveal — and reporters all over the country — a big win ([link removed]) . As Alain reported:

These reports, which detail the provenance of crime guns, including their first owner and point of sale — live in a massive database, and present an incredible resource for journalists, policymakers, and regular citizens who want to know how guns move from the marketplace to crime scenes.

The court went further, ruling that the government’s duty to disclose records extends to databases.

As Vickie, our attorney, said: “Without access to these electronic banks of information that are swiftly replacing paper records, FOIA would become irrelevant and government accountability would be at risk.”

The court agreed. “Were we to agree with ATF that the results of a search query run across a database necessarily constituted the creation of a new record, we may well render FOIA a nullity in the digital age,” wrote Judge Kim Wardlaw in the majority opinion.

We still don’t know how many police guns wind up involved in crimes. But the ruling this month opens the door to answering this question. This is a win for journalists and, hopefully, a step toward more accountability and transparency at the ATF.
------------------------------------------------------------


**
In the Field
------------------------------------------------------------
Protecting indigenous land in Nicaragua from illegal cattle ranches

Cattle are being illegally raised on Indigenous lands. Credit: Courtesy of the Rama Kriol rangers

A few months ago, we teamed up with PBS NewsHour to report ([link removed]) on a deadly situation in Nicaragua: Cattle ranchers raising beef for export to the United States have killed Indigenous people and stolen their rainforest land, in order to turn it into cow pastures.

Beef is big money in Nicaragua. It’s Nicaragua’s number one export and the country has shipped 33,000 tons of it to U.S. importers this year alone, who in turn sell meat to retailers like Target, Safeway, and Walmart. As ranchers have expanded, they have been moving onto indigenous land and threatening indigenous communities with violence.

“That is going to cause us ethnocide. And as Indigenous people, we are going to disappear,” said Lottie Cunningham, an Indigenous leader and attorney in Bilwaskarma, a Miskito community in northeastern Nicaragua

But now there’s some important news for the communities that ranchers have attacked. After a decade of lax legal enforcement, internal government documents obtained by Reveal ([link removed]) show that the government is enlisting the national police and local municipalities to stop cattle illegally raised on stolen lands or in protected biospheres from reaching the country’s slaughterhouses.

The documents show that the Nicaraguan government is going to start enforcing a law that was passed in 2011 but that has never been fully enforced. It requires ranchers and beef producers to track cattle from birth to slaughter. Cattle ranchers and slaughterhouses are supposed to tag each calf with a unique tag and ID number. Illegal ranchers now will be denied these tags, and therefore cut out of the market -- if the government follows through on fully enforcing the law.

------------------------------------------------------------


**
------------------------------------------------------------


** Reveal Recommends
------------------------------------------------------------

Mallory Newman is an associate producer at Reveal. She’s part of a team making a documentary about how resource scarcity will impact our future.

Listening: “The Condor ([link removed]) ” EP by Dust Follows is a recent fav and very nice to relax to at the end of the day.

Reading: I just finished Tales of the City ([link removed]) by Armistead Maupin which was a nice light read for some often heavy days.

Watching: I’ve been re-watching Stranger Things “together” (virtually) with my friend and texting which has been a nice way to stay connected.

You can keep up with Mallory on Twitter @manewms ([link removed]) .
------------------------------------------------------------

Do you have feedback for Reveal? Send it over! This newsletter was written by Sarah Mirk (mailto:[email protected]?subject=Weekly%20Reveal%20feedback) , who will share your thoughts with the team.
------------------------------------------------------------

============================================================
** Twitter ([link removed])
** Facebook ([link removed])
** Website ([link removed])
Copyright © 2020 The Center for Investigative Reporting, All rights reserved.
You're on this list because you signed up for The Weekly Reveal newsletter.

Our mailing address is:
The Center for Investigative Reporting
1400 65th St., Suite 200
Emeryville, CA 94608
USA
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
.