This past year, The Smoking Gun has helped expose the gun industry’s role in our gun violence epidemic by publishing over 80 news stories, reports, and profiles on gun makers and dealers. Our efforts are aided by reporters and researchers who uncover new information about bad actors within the gun industry — entities that produce increasingly deadly weapons, market them irresponsibly, and allow them to fall into the wrong hands, for example.
Here we’ve compiled some of the best news stories and investigations about the gun industry this past year in case you missed them.
january
- ABC News: “Crackdown on do-it-yourself firearm kits is curbing ghost guns. Will it last?”
By Devin Dwyer and Patty See
After seeing a surge in ghost gun recoveries from 2017 through 2023, reporters spoke with Baltimore officials “cautiously celebrating a dramatic downward trend of ghost guns and what could be a harbinger of progress in the fight against gun violence across the country.” The officials credited the Biden administration’s ghost gun rule as well as “state and local restrictions imposed on gun kits in 2022 and 2023 with slowing online sales by requiring background and age checks of buyers and banning some kit sales in Maryland altogether.”
February
- ProPublica: “Gun Lobbyists and Cambridge Analytica Weaponized Gun Owners’ Private Details for Political Gain”
By Corey G. Johnson and Byard Duncan
A ProPublica investigation revealed that the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) and major gun companies had allegedly provided customer’ personal data to political consultants, including Cambridge Analytica, to build targeted voter-influence campaigns. The investigation alleged that the data, drawn from firearm warranty cards and promotions, was used to categorize gun owners and send tailored political messages aimed at boosting pro-gun candidates.
- NHPR: “Judge upholds $2.35M verdict against Sig Sauer over pistol shooting in Georgia”
By Todd Bookman
A federal judge refused to overturn a landmark $2.35 million verdict against New-Hampshire-based Sig Sauer after a Georgia man sued the company for being injured by his P320 pistol firing without an intentional trigger pull. As the article notes, “The payout marked the first time the firearms manufacturer, based in Newington, had been found negligent by a jury for a P320 unintentionally discharging.” The judge’s decision, which also denied Sig Sauer’s appeal to reduce the damages to $500,000, came amid a wave of similar lawsuits alleging design flaws in the P320 line.
march
- NBC News: “Supreme Court upholds Biden regulations on ‘ghost gun’ kits”
By Lawrence Hurley
In a 7-2 decision, the United States Supreme Court upheld the Biden administration rule subjecting ghost gun kits to the same regulations as commercially made firearms, requiring that they be sold with serial numbers and background checks to help ensure that they do not end up in wrong hands. In writing for the majority, Justice Gorsuch noted that the court had “no trouble rejecting” the arguments made by challengers.
april
- The Trace: “Trump Administration Ends Zero-Tolerance Policy for Lawbreaking Gun Dealers”
By Chip Brownlee and Champe Barton
On April 7, 2025, the Trump administration rescinded the Biden administration’s “zero tolerance” policy, which tasked the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) with revoking the licenses of gun dealers who willfully violated federal law, including by failing to conduct background checks on customers or falsifying records. While the gun industry vehemently opposed the policy, “gun store inspection records published by the [ATF] showed that the vast majority of revocations had come in response to clear violations of federal law.”
may
- NBC News: “Trump admin permits sale of device that allows standard firearms to fire like machine guns”
By Ken Dilanian
In May 2025, the Trump administration settled a lawsuit and reversed a prior ban on forced-reset triggers (FRTs), devices that allow semi-automatic firearms to fire like machine guns. The move returned thousands of previously seized FRTs to their owners and ended federal enforcement that treated them like illegal machine gun conversion devices. The rollback essentially legalized machine-gun-style firepower for civilians, undoing a key restriction adopted under the Biden administration.
- Washington Post: “This popular gunmaker persuaded N.H. lawmakers to protect it from lawsuits”
By Kim Bellware and Justine McDaniel
The New Hampshire legislature handed a win to Sig Sauer by passing a law shielding the company from a number of product liability suits that claim the P320 pistol can fire without an intentional trigger pull. This move comes after company lobbyists pressed lawmakers to intervene as lawsuits against the company increased. The bill, signed into law by Governor Kelly Ayotte, limits the kinds of defect claims that can be brought in New Hampshire, where Sig Sauer is based.
june
- BBC: “Print and shoot: How 3D-printed guns are spreading online”
By Dan Hardoon
This BBC investigation highlights the rapid spread of 3D-printed firearms — untraceable ghost guns that can be made at home using 3D printers and programming files that circulate widely on social media and file-sharing platforms despite bans in many countries. The piece underscores how 3D printing has made it easier for people prohibited from possessing firearms to obtain them, defying traditional gun safety laws. Further, 3D-printed firearms lack serial numbers and are difficult to trace.
july
- ABC News: “Digital design firm agrees to block 3D guns, following letter from Manhattan DA”
By Aaron Katersky
One of the world’s largest digital-design platforms, Thingiverse, agreed to deploy automated filters and remove online blueprints known as CAD files for 3D-printed guns and gun parts after investigators in New York uncovered hundreds of downloadable blueprints for untraceable ghost guns. The move follows an effort earlier this year from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who sent letters to 3D printing companies asking them to help combat the growing threat of ghost guns.
August
- NHPR: “Years before Air Force base fatality, investigators found ‘failure’ in a Sig Sauer gun”
By Todd Bookman
Documents reveal that years before the fatal 2025 shooting of a U.S. airman involving a Sig Sauer M18 service pistol, Air Force investigators traced an uncommanded discharge on Aviano Air Base in 2022 to what they concluded was a mechanical failure inside the weapon after finding wear marks on internal parts — and no fingerprints on the trigger. Internal military records also show multiple instances of the same model firing unexpectedly under routine handling, fueling long-standing safety concerns about the design.
september
- ProPublica: “A New Lawsuit Alleges the Gun Industry Exploited Firearm Owners’ Data for Political Gain”
By Corey G. Johnson
A new federal class-action lawsuit filed earlier this year accuses the NSSF of “violating the privacy rights of millions of gun owners” by secretly building a database of millions of gun owners’ personal data, then handing it to political strategists without their consent. The suit alleges customers were misled when personal details collected for gun warranties and promotions were repurposed for election targeting.
October
- Bloomberg: “A Gunmaker’s Lobbying Shows How Trump’s Tariffs Changed the Game”
By Ted Mann, Shawn Donnan, Nazmul Ahasan, Michael Smith and Jessica Brice
Facing a 50-percent tariff on Brazilian-made imports, firearms manufacturer Taurus Holdings turned to a Washington-based lobbying firm with close ties to President Trump to try to soften the impact — a pattern repeated by many companies scrambling to avoid steep tariff costs. The increase in lobbying on trade issues has hit record levels, and spending surged in the first half of 2025 on tariff-related lobbying. For firms that rely on imports, the use of “Trump-aligned” influence networks has become nearly unavoidable.
November
- The New York Times: “AR-15 Ammunition at a Crime Scene? Good Odds This Army Plant Made It”
By Ben Dooley
This investigation revealed that AR-15 ammunition produced at the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant — a government-owned, contractor-operated facility in Independence, Missouri — has been tied to twice as many criminal investigations across the U.S. as any other manufacturer of AR-15 ammunition. Nearly 30 percent of the 5.56mm and .223-caliber spent cartridge casings recovered by police between 2017 and 2024 bore Lake City’s distinctive markings. The data is drawn from the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN), a crime-solving tool administered by the ATF.
- The Trace and Rolling Stone: “The Gun Industry’s Suicide Prevention Effort Isn’t What They Say It Is”
By Mike Spies
While the NSSF claimed to have distributed “more than 800,000” brochures about preventing gun suicide, a former employee of the NSSF’s partner in the endeavor told The Trace and Rolling Stone that the number was “wildly misleading,” as there “was absolutely no tracking of how many people took or were handed brochures.” The findings are part of a larger investigation revealing that the gun industry’s trade group undermined the program and hindered its effectiveness.
- CNN: “Gun crime cases fall as agents shift to immigration crackdown”
By Bob Ortega and Allison Gordon
According to CNN, the ATF has reassigned 80 percent of its special agents, normally charged with investigating gun crimes and policing the gun industry, to carrying out President Trump’s immigration “crackdown.” Current and former ATF officials told CNN that the reassignments have led to a historic drop in gun trafficking investigations and dealer inspections.
december
- Mountain State Spotlight: “How a gun manufacturer accused of marketing to mass shooters helped shape West Virginia gun laws”
By Henry Culvyhouse
As Daniel Defense faces ongoing lawsuits over marketing materials that critics say glorify its AR-15s to young men and mass shooters, the company’s founder, Marty Daniel, quietly secured a direct role in drafting a West Virginia law to “shield his company and others in the industry from legal liability.” Daniel allegedly met with lawmakers as the state fast-tracked a bill insulating gun makers from civil suits, effectively giving a company a hand in designing its own legal protections.
- NOTUS: “The NRA Is Selling Off Its Investments to Make Ends Meet”
By Dave Levinthal and Violet Jira
An independent audit shows the National Rifle Association liquidated nearly $40 million in stocks, bonds, and other holdings in 2024 as revenue from membership dues continues to plummet. The organization’s investment portfolio shrank from more than $72 million to under $33 million, while spending on publications, legislative programs, and public affairs also fell. Facing debt north of $121 million and ongoing lawsuits, the once influential group is burning through reserves just to cover operating costs, a dramatic decline from its prominence in past election cycles.
- NPR: “Thousands of guns are found at crime scenes. What do they tell us?”
By Meg Anderson
A new Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund report reveals that a relatively small number of gun manufacturers — Glock, Taurus, Smith & Wesson and Ruger — account for a disproportionate share of crime guns, often with short “time to crime” periods. Additionally, the data shows a dramatic rise in the number of 3D-printed firearms recovered at crime scenes. Together, the findings illustrate how gaps in regulation and enforcement help sustain the flow of illegal guns into communities.