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Bloomberg Bolsters Gun Drive in Ohio and Kentucky
By DIANE CARDWELL
Published: April 13, 2007
you know, they like to say they are after "illegal guns" but these same people can not say "illegal aliens".
Let's start calling our guns..."undocumented guns"
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/13/us/13guns.html
CINCINNATI, April 12 — Broadening his national effort to reduce the use of illegal guns, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York announced the addition of 14 mayors from Ohio and Kentucky to his coalition on Thursday and unveiled a campaign to pressure Congress to allow cities to share information about the source of guns used in crimes.
Tom Uhlman for The New York Times
The campaign, to include Internet and television advertisements as well as a new Web site, is intended to pressure Congress into rescinding the so-called Tiahrt amendment, a measure attached to spending bills each year since 2003 that bans the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from releasing gun-trace data, except to police officials and prosecutors working on a particular crime.
The provision prevents the data from being used in civil lawsuits against gun dealers or manufacturers, but also keeps law enforcement officials, many say, from being able to see a full picture of gun trafficking in and around their communities.
“I am tired of my people having to face illegal guns,” said Scott M. Knight, who appears in the advertisement and is police chief in Chaska, Minn., a city of 24,000 just south of Minneapolis. “I am just tired of roadblocks, barriers, legislation being put up that gets in our way of doing our job.”
In making the announcement at the police academy here, Mr. Bloomberg was accompanied by Mayor Mark Mallory of Cincinnati and other mayors from the region who have recently joined Mr. Bloomberg’s national coalition on illegal guns, which law enforcement officials say are contributing to a rise in violent crime.
Mr. Bloomberg has labored over the last year to create momentum across the country to loosen the restrictions on trace data as part of his larger effort. At nearly every opportunity, Mr. Bloomberg emphasizes the deadly consequences of guns getting into the hands of criminals, repeating his theme that it is the mayors who see those consequences when they face the families of police officers killed in the line of duty, “breaking the news that will break their hearts,” as he put it here.
“This is not a battle that can be waged within state lines — it is a national problem that affects all of us, and solving it requires local governments to work together, to share information and to coordinate our strategies,” Mr. Bloomberg said.
The growing group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, now more than 180 mayors representing 50 million Americans, sent a signal that it was “seeking common solutions on this issue, not the same old tired divisive debates that have dominated Washington for far too long,” he added.
But Mr. Bloomberg is trying to win those debates by redefining gun control as common-sense crime prevention rather than an effete Northeastern liberal attack on Second Amendment rights. Toward that end, he set the stage in a Midwestern state that borders the South, with a show of support from Ray Schoenke of the American Hunters and Shooters Association and references to the mayors’ group’s diversity in party affiliation, geography and size.
To have success, the movement must be seen as anticrime, not antigun, advocates say.
When Congress began passing gun control laws, said Jim Kessler, vice president for policy at Third Way, a policy group, lawmakers and advocates demonized gun owners, who he said made up about half of voting households.
“They made the gun seem like it was evil and took a very pejorative view of gun owners,” Mr. Kessler said. “It can’t be seen as a jihad against guns.”
Despite the growing numbers in Mr. Bloomberg’s coalition, and its careful anti-crime-gun rhetoric, that may prove an uphill battle.
At least four mayors have dropped out of the coalition, citing concerns that the group was in fact working to infringe upon gun ownership rights, and Mr. Bloomberg has become a favored target of gun rights advocates. And there is far from unanimity among law enforcement officials on the Tiahrt amendment, named for Representative Todd Tiahrt, a Republican from Kansas who sponsored it.
In a two-minute video on the campaign’s Web site, protectpolice.org, images of Chief Knight driving in uniform and sunglasses are juxtaposed with grainy surveillance footage of crimes being committed with guns. He says at one point: “The crime occurs, and I can only know information about that one specific crime. I cannot know about any crimes happening around me, happening in my neighboring communities. It provides a shield for the rogue gun dealer.”
The media campaign, for which Mr. Bloomberg provided start-up money and is to focus on the districts of Congressional leaders in the appropriations process, pushes the idea that without sharing trace data, localities cannot divine patterns in illegal gun trafficking, which often crosses town and state lines.
But those who support at least parts of the amendment, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Fraternal Order of Police and the National Rifle Association, argue that it was necessary to protect the integrity of investigations after the data was released in connection with civil suits against gun manufacturers and distributors.
“Trace data was being politicized and in our opinion being misused by trial lawyers who wanted to file lawsuits,” said Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the N.R.A., which pushed the amendment. “I just think it’s wrong for Mayor Bloomberg to try to score political points, one, without telling the whole story and, two, distorting the issue.”
Chuck Knapp, a spokesman for Mr. Tiahrt, expressed surprise to learn of the new campaign, saying that his office had been making progress toward changing and clarifying some of the restrictions. Mr. Knapp said the congressman had agreed at least in principle that information should be shared by law enforcement agencies across jurisdictions.
But that progress had been insufficient, said John Feinblatt, New York City’s criminal justice coordinator. “We have been in discussions with Congressman Tiahrt’s office for nearly three months,” Mr. Feinblatt said. “Our door will continue to be open, but we are now at a critical stage in the appropriations process.”
In the meantime, the mayors are assembling. Mr. Mallory of Cincinnati said that he organized the group from Ohio and Kentucky to help foster a regional approach to gun violence.
“Criminals do not recognize municipal boundaries, and we need to make sure that our efforts do not stop at our individual borders either,” he said.
In Cincinnati, overall violent crime is down but homicides are up, with the vast majority of them committed with firearms by people with a criminal records.
Mayor Daniel Gieringer of Harrison, a rural town on the Indiana border, agrees that it was important to stand together, adding that Harrison was bisected by an Interstate that brings drugs and guns into the area.
“I want to continue to bear arms myself, and I believe in that,” said Mr. Gieringer, a Democrat. “However, the illegal guns I believe need to get off the street.”
By DIANE CARDWELL
Published: April 13, 2007
you know, they like to say they are after "illegal guns" but these same people can not say "illegal aliens".
Let's start calling our guns..."undocumented guns"
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/13/us/13guns.html
CINCINNATI, April 12 — Broadening his national effort to reduce the use of illegal guns, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York announced the addition of 14 mayors from Ohio and Kentucky to his coalition on Thursday and unveiled a campaign to pressure Congress to allow cities to share information about the source of guns used in crimes.
Tom Uhlman for The New York Times
The campaign, to include Internet and television advertisements as well as a new Web site, is intended to pressure Congress into rescinding the so-called Tiahrt amendment, a measure attached to spending bills each year since 2003 that bans the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from releasing gun-trace data, except to police officials and prosecutors working on a particular crime.
The provision prevents the data from being used in civil lawsuits against gun dealers or manufacturers, but also keeps law enforcement officials, many say, from being able to see a full picture of gun trafficking in and around their communities.
“I am tired of my people having to face illegal guns,” said Scott M. Knight, who appears in the advertisement and is police chief in Chaska, Minn., a city of 24,000 just south of Minneapolis. “I am just tired of roadblocks, barriers, legislation being put up that gets in our way of doing our job.”
In making the announcement at the police academy here, Mr. Bloomberg was accompanied by Mayor Mark Mallory of Cincinnati and other mayors from the region who have recently joined Mr. Bloomberg’s national coalition on illegal guns, which law enforcement officials say are contributing to a rise in violent crime.
Mr. Bloomberg has labored over the last year to create momentum across the country to loosen the restrictions on trace data as part of his larger effort. At nearly every opportunity, Mr. Bloomberg emphasizes the deadly consequences of guns getting into the hands of criminals, repeating his theme that it is the mayors who see those consequences when they face the families of police officers killed in the line of duty, “breaking the news that will break their hearts,” as he put it here.
“This is not a battle that can be waged within state lines — it is a national problem that affects all of us, and solving it requires local governments to work together, to share information and to coordinate our strategies,” Mr. Bloomberg said.
The growing group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, now more than 180 mayors representing 50 million Americans, sent a signal that it was “seeking common solutions on this issue, not the same old tired divisive debates that have dominated Washington for far too long,” he added.
But Mr. Bloomberg is trying to win those debates by redefining gun control as common-sense crime prevention rather than an effete Northeastern liberal attack on Second Amendment rights. Toward that end, he set the stage in a Midwestern state that borders the South, with a show of support from Ray Schoenke of the American Hunters and Shooters Association and references to the mayors’ group’s diversity in party affiliation, geography and size.
To have success, the movement must be seen as anticrime, not antigun, advocates say.
When Congress began passing gun control laws, said Jim Kessler, vice president for policy at Third Way, a policy group, lawmakers and advocates demonized gun owners, who he said made up about half of voting households.
“They made the gun seem like it was evil and took a very pejorative view of gun owners,” Mr. Kessler said. “It can’t be seen as a jihad against guns.”
Despite the growing numbers in Mr. Bloomberg’s coalition, and its careful anti-crime-gun rhetoric, that may prove an uphill battle.
At least four mayors have dropped out of the coalition, citing concerns that the group was in fact working to infringe upon gun ownership rights, and Mr. Bloomberg has become a favored target of gun rights advocates. And there is far from unanimity among law enforcement officials on the Tiahrt amendment, named for Representative Todd Tiahrt, a Republican from Kansas who sponsored it.
In a two-minute video on the campaign’s Web site, protectpolice.org, images of Chief Knight driving in uniform and sunglasses are juxtaposed with grainy surveillance footage of crimes being committed with guns. He says at one point: “The crime occurs, and I can only know information about that one specific crime. I cannot know about any crimes happening around me, happening in my neighboring communities. It provides a shield for the rogue gun dealer.”
The media campaign, for which Mr. Bloomberg provided start-up money and is to focus on the districts of Congressional leaders in the appropriations process, pushes the idea that without sharing trace data, localities cannot divine patterns in illegal gun trafficking, which often crosses town and state lines.
But those who support at least parts of the amendment, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Fraternal Order of Police and the National Rifle Association, argue that it was necessary to protect the integrity of investigations after the data was released in connection with civil suits against gun manufacturers and distributors.
“Trace data was being politicized and in our opinion being misused by trial lawyers who wanted to file lawsuits,” said Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the N.R.A., which pushed the amendment. “I just think it’s wrong for Mayor Bloomberg to try to score political points, one, without telling the whole story and, two, distorting the issue.”
Chuck Knapp, a spokesman for Mr. Tiahrt, expressed surprise to learn of the new campaign, saying that his office had been making progress toward changing and clarifying some of the restrictions. Mr. Knapp said the congressman had agreed at least in principle that information should be shared by law enforcement agencies across jurisdictions.
But that progress had been insufficient, said John Feinblatt, New York City’s criminal justice coordinator. “We have been in discussions with Congressman Tiahrt’s office for nearly three months,” Mr. Feinblatt said. “Our door will continue to be open, but we are now at a critical stage in the appropriations process.”
In the meantime, the mayors are assembling. Mr. Mallory of Cincinnati said that he organized the group from Ohio and Kentucky to help foster a regional approach to gun violence.
“Criminals do not recognize municipal boundaries, and we need to make sure that our efforts do not stop at our individual borders either,” he said.
In Cincinnati, overall violent crime is down but homicides are up, with the vast majority of them committed with firearms by people with a criminal records.
Mayor Daniel Gieringer of Harrison, a rural town on the Indiana border, agrees that it was important to stand together, adding that Harrison was bisected by an Interstate that brings drugs and guns into the area.
“I want to continue to bear arms myself, and I believe in that,” said Mr. Gieringer, a Democrat. “However, the illegal guns I believe need to get off the street.”
