The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "illegal gun trade" ...
-
The Hidden Life of Guns
The investigation details the way guns move through society, from retail sales to street crimes. The Post set out to break the secrecy imposed by Congress and an examination of how gunes are used in crimes. Their investigation included creating a database of more than 35,000 guns traced to crimes; a comprehensive database of 511 police officers killed by firearms; lists from confidential sources of the top 12 gun dealers who have sold the most weapons trace from Mexican crime scenes over the past two years.
Tags: guns; gun laws; crime; gun dealer; illegal gun trade; Mexico; criminal statistics; Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; National Shooting Sports Foundation; Tiahrt Amendment;
-
Guns, Money and Cell Phones
The Industry Standard reports that the demand for an ore called columbite-tantalite -- or coltan -- is helping to fuel the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. When refined, coltan becomes tantalum, a highly heat-resistant metal powder that is a key component in everything from mobile phones to computer chips and VCR's. As the demand for these products has increased, "a new, more sinister market began flourishing in the ...Congo. There, warring groups - many funded and supplied by neighboring Rwanda and Uganda - are exploiting coltan mining to help finance a bloody civil war now in its third year." Although selling coltan is not illegal, a United Nations report in April suggested that thousands of tons of coltan had been smuggled from the Congo into Rwanda and Uganda, and may have eventually made it to the U.S. companies that use the material. For their part, these companies have no way of knowing whether the tantalum they use is helping to finance the civil war. Another side effect of the coltan trade: mining activity is especially big in the mountainous northeastern region of the Congo, where endangered gorillas live.
Tags: Democratic Republic of Congo; cellular phones; Nokia; Sony; Intel; AVX; Cabot; H.C. Starck; Kemet; Columbite-tantalite; coltan; civil war; Uganda; Rwanda; tantalum capacitors; Sogem; mountain gorillas
-
No title (id: 1313)
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists article describes the increasingly active illegal arms trade; billions worth of black market weapons are saturating Third World arsenals, April 1988.