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Congress Hampers Efforts to Stop Gun Trafficking
Once again Congress
has approved legislation that prohibits the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) from providing crime gun tracing
data to law enforcement agencies and policy-making organizations
like CT Against Gun Violence.
Unlike drug sales,
all gun sales start with a legal purchase that is documented.
CT law requires that when a law enforcement agency recovers
a firearm, that firearm must be traced. The agency contacts
ATF and reports the gun's brand name and serial number. ATF
then contacts the manufacturer, who matches the serial number
to sales records to identify the first purchaser. ATF goes
down the distribution line, contacting each distributor and
dealer to find the final purchaser. This allows law enforcement
to investigate the path the firearm took from that person
to the crime scene.
Data on traced
firearms used to be available from ATF; some reports were
even available through their website. The data included the
original dealer selling the crime gun, make and model of the
gun, and where it was sold. The data could be used to target
sources of crime guns, and helped to identify patterns of
trafficking. The data did NOT disclose information about the
purchaser of the crime gun or any confidential information;
only information about the sales of the firearm.
But in 2003 that
changed. First, former Attorney General John Ashcroft had
the data pulled from the website and forbid ATF to provide
it. Then in 2004, Congressional amendments to ATF's Appropriations
bills, offered by NRA ally Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-KS), placed
restrictions on ATF prohibiting disclosure of trace data to
the public and even to law enforcement agencies.
Information
previously disclosed to the public and local and state law
enforcement is now purposely withheld. Law enforcement
cannot obtain information from ATF on the sources of guns
trafficked into their jurisdiction. Obviously, this severely
hinders law enforcement's ability to crack down on bad dealers
or other sources of illegal firearms. Prohibiting the release
of this data protects the unethical within this industry and
assists criminals in easily accessing firearms.
Click
here for the language in the appropriations bill. Changes
from 2005's version are in red; we added the yellow highlighting.
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