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Brady Sued ATF for Records on the Largest Sellers of Crime Guns. ATF Refused to Release Them.

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ATF Knows Which Gun Dealers Sell the Most Crime Guns. It Won’t Say Who.

Brady United sued the ATF and the Justice Department in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on June 4, 2026, demanding the agency release records identifying the largest sellers of crime guns in the country.

The records at issue are called Demand Letter 2s. ATF created the program in February 2000 to flag gun dealers whose firearms kept showing up at crime scenes. The original threshold was 10 crime-traced guns per year with a “time to crime” of three years or less. In 2018, during Trump’s first term, ATF raised the threshold to 25.

Roughly 1,500 dealers received DL2s in 2022-2023. Many had been cited for federal firearms law violations.

Between 2000 and 2021, ATF used information from these letters to trace more than 190,000 firearms. Annual traces grew from 963 in 2000 to 17,396 in 2021, a 1,706% increase. The program traced 10,000 or more firearms every year since 2013.

190,000 firearms

traced through the Demand Letter 2 program between 2000 and 2021. Annual traces grew 1,706%.

Brady submitted a FOIA request in February 2026 asking for all DL2s issued to federal firearms licensees during 2017-2021 and 2025. ATF refused, claiming the records would disclose personal information, confidential trade secrets, and commercial or financial details.

“This is information that will save lives,” said Josh Scharff, Brady’s general counsel. “It is information that helps us be able to analyze how our government is regulating the gun industry, particularly the largest sellers of crime guns.” Democracy Forward is representing Brady.

ATF Killed a 25-Year-Old Program After Gun Industry Pressure

On June 13, 2025, the National Shooting Sports Foundation announced that ATF had ended the Demand Letter 2 program. NSSF called DL2 letters a tool to “name-and-shame firearm retailers for crimes in which they had no involvement.” ATF itself had not formally announced the decision.

ATF Director Robert Cekada supported the pause during his confirmation process, writing that it was “triggered, in part, by efforts of advocacy groups to mischaracterize the Demand Letter program.”

The program ran for 25 years. It identified the dealers whose guns showed up at crime scenes most often. Many of those dealers had been cited for violations.

The gun industry said the program was unfair. The administration agreed and shut it down.

The Administration Is Courting the Gun Industry While Hiding Enforcement Data

The lawsuit lands in the middle of the most gun-industry-friendly federal posture in years. ATF Director Cekada and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche have publicly embraced the industry and said the agencies will ease burdens for sellers, manufacturers, and gun owners. ATF recently proposed more than 30 regulatory changes aimed at cutting red tape.

Brady’s Scharff connected the refusal to the pattern: “ATF’s decision to withhold these documents really can’t be taken out of that narrative. This administration is doing everything that it can to cater to the gun industry and we believe that this is part of that pattern.”

ATF tracked which dealers sell the most crime guns for a quarter century. The public paid for that tracking. The program worked. Brady is asking a federal court to make the results public.

What You Can Do Now

  1. Tell your representative to restore the Demand Letter 2 program and fund ATF enforcement. The program traced 190,000 crime guns over two decades. Pausing it removed the primary tool for identifying the worst-offending dealers. Call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121.

  2. Support the Virginia Plan (S. 4339). The bill would strengthen federal firearms enforcement and reporting requirements. Read our coverage.

  3. Follow the case. Brady’s press page tracks FOIA litigation outcomes. Democracy Forward is representing Brady in D.C. federal court.

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