Harder to Follow the Guns
Local police say a law hinders probes
Tracing the origins of gun sales is a proven and cost-effective way of sifting for gun dealers who sell to criminals. But a congressional amendment backed by the National Rifle Association bars the ATF from publicly releasing certain data and limits what it can share with local law enforcement.
To its many opponents, the so-called Tiahrt amendment (named for Republican Rep. Todd Tiahrt of Kansas) is already bad enough: Because it restricts the ATF from releasing gun trace data to local law enforcers outside their jurisdictions, police can be handicapped in pursuing broader gun trafficking probes. And because of the disclosure prohibition, some policymakers say they lack the information they need to track illegal gun sale trends.
Targets. Now, as opponents see it, the amendment is about to get even worse. A measure proposed by GOP Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama further hampers law enforcement by requiring officials to certify that gun trace data will be used only for a specific investigation. (A less restrictive amendment has passed through a House committee.)
The Tiahrt amendment was first passed in 2003 in reaction to lawsuits filed against the gun industry. The names of targeted dealers and other trace data seeped into court files, causing the ATF and NRA to worry that the information could harm investigations. Supporters of the amendment also argue that Tiahrt's restrictions on local law enforcement do not impede probes of gun traffickers by the ATF.
The ATF says that detailed trace data-information showing the origins of guns used in specific crimes—are indeed sensitive. But a spokeswoman said the agency recently reviewed its policy and determined that disclosure of aggregate trace data—the sort that could help policymakers—would not, in fact, compromise investigations. The agency notes that the disclosure of these kinds of statistics is still allowed under the amendment.
Nevertheless, the Shelby amendment faces powerful opposition from mayors and police chiefs. "The lesson we thought we learned in 9/11 is to share information and connect the dots," says John Feinblatt, an adviser to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. "Apparently, that is not the lesson that some quarters drew."
This story appears in the July 23, 2007 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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