The launch of a pair of new online data repositories sheds new light on the gun industry and gun violence. The Violence Policy Center's new Campaign for Gun Industry Accountability site collects published research on the industry, information on gunmakers, and resources from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and other sources. Information on the site is broken down into six major categories on the gun industry: assault weapons, law compliance, marketing, militarization, manufacturing, and gun trafficking. The site is designed for use by advocates and organizations, the news media, policymakers, litigators, and the general public. The site will be updated regularly with new research on the gun industry and visitors are also able to sign up for bi-weekly industry notes from the VPC’s research staff.
The Trace, the nonprofit news organization covering gun violence, launched the Gun Violence Data Hub, designed to help journalists tap into reliable data. The site's staff will "collect and clean datasets for public distribution, write and share tip sheets, and serve as a resource desk to other newsrooms, assisting journalists in their pursuit of data-informed reporting," The Trace said in its announcement. One set of studies analyzed data collected by the Gun Violence Archive to map geographic patterns over the past decade. The site also analyzes gun dealer inspection reports and tracks gun purchasing and gun thefts.