Washington, D.C. – Today, Brady, the nation’s oldest gun violence prevention organization, sued the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) for failing to comply with public records act laws and refusing to release information about gun dealers that sell a large number of weapons used to commit crimes. Brady is represented by Democracy Forward.
In Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence v. Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Brady is asking the court to compel the release of Demand Letter 2s (DL2s). These are requests for additional information that ATF seeks from gun dealers that sold 25 or more guns that had been used in crimes. These guns were recovered by law enforcement in the preceding calendar year after having been used in crimes within three years of their sale (known as a short “time-to-crime,” which ATF has established as an indicator of illegal gun trafficking involving gun dealers).
As part of its work to track information about gun violence and efforts to prevent the devastation the violence causes communities, Brady hosts the largest database of ATF inspection reports released to the public and has routinely requested DL2s under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). For years, ATF produced the letters virtually intact, and Brady utilized them in compiling and publishing reports on the suppliers of America’s gun violence crisis and how ATF is addressing those drivers of crime. This ATF production practice changed with a February 23, 2026, letter, when ATF unlawfully denied Brady’s request and withheld the requested letters in full.
“Americans deserve to know about the sources of firearms that are driving crime in our communities and what ATF is doing, or not doing, about it,” said Brady President Kris Brown. “The gun lobby has plainly captured the Trump-Vance administration and imposed their decades-long agenda to keep this data from the public so we cannot reform the business practices that pad gun CEOs’ pockets while worsening the scourge of gun violence nationally. We’re partnering with Democracy Forward to take this ‘soft-on-crime’ administration to court so these letters and the data they contain can remain critical resources for governments at every level, research institutions, and non-profits to develop evidence-based solutions for properly enforcing our laws and truly addressing our nation’s gun violence crisis.”
“Hiding information that helps the public understand how effective, or not, the ATF has been in stopping gun dealers who sell weapons used in crimes makes communities in America less safe,” said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward. “We are honored to support the brave work of Brady and are committed to fighting for the freedom of information and our democracy.”
The Trump-Vance administration’s withholding of public data on gun dealers follows a pattern of actions to adopt the gun industry’s agenda at the expense of public safety. The administration quietly “paused” the DL2 program entirely last year, and under the first Trump administration, ATF weakened the threshold to be a DL2 dealer by increasing the number of crime guns recovered in the prior calendar year from 10 to 25.
The case is Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence v. Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, et al, and the legal team at Democracy Forward in this case includes Daniel McGrath, Amy Vickery, and Robin Thurston. The legal team from Brady includes Douglas Letter and Joshua Scharff.
Read the full complaint here.
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Democracy Forward Foundation is a national legal organization that advances democracy and social progress through litigation, policy, public education, and regulatory engagement. For more information, please visit www.democracyforward.org.
Brady has one powerful mission — to unite all Americans against gun violence. We work across Congress, the courts, and our communities with over 90 grassroots chapters, bringing together young and old, red and blue, and every shade of color to find common ground in common sense. In the spirit of our namesakes Jim and Sarah Brady, we have fought for over 45 years to take action, not sides, and we will not stop until this epidemic ends. It’s in our hands.
