Desertdog
Member
Crime-gun records barred
ATF no longer releases data to public — and ban may grow to lawsuits
By David Olinger
Denver Post Staff Writer
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2280636,00.html
Congress has stopped a federal agency from releasing to the public records on guns used in crimes and may prevent their release in lawsuits against the gun industry as well.
Proponents call the restriction necessary to protect sensitive law-enforcement information and avoid exposing undercover officers involved in gun-trafficking investigations.
Critics fume that the gun industry simply doesn't want the public - or cities suing gun manufacturers for negligence - to have access to federal information about guns used in crimes.
"It really is just the sheer power of the gun lobby," said Kristen Rand, legislative director of the Violence Policy Center in Washington. "The bottom line is (that) the tracing database has a lot of information about how guns are used in crimes, patterns of movement. They've just decided they're going to shut down access."
The congressional ban on public releases of firearms-tracing data, placed in the current Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives budget, has led the agency to conclude it cannot answer basic questions about gun crimes.
In Colorado, for example, four local police departments confirmed five thefts from Denver-area gun stores in the last year and provided information about the numbers of guns stolen.
But the ATF decided it could not disclose information about the same thefts, or discuss other Colorado gun-store robberies, because gun-tracing records are involved.
"Because it's information derived from licensed dealer records, and we are prohibited from releasing that information," explained Gerald Petrilli, ATF chief in Denver. "I can't tell you what stores were hit."
The ATF maintains a database of guns that have been stolen or used in suspected crimes, and it traces them back by serial numbers to the licensed firearms dealers who sold them.
Those data have been used by academic researchers, law-enforcement agencies, gun-control groups and media organizations to study the effectiveness of gun laws, identify guns favored by criminals, investigate patterns of gun trafficking and describe how mass killers armed themselves.
The Denver Post previously used gun-tracing information in stories on the Columbine High massacre, police gun sales and crimes traceable to multiple handgun purchases.
ATF records also have been employed in lawsuits accusing specific gun manufacturers and distributors of supplying weapons to criminals.
This year, Congress instructed the ATF not to disclose to the public any information collected from firearms dealers and held in agency databases.
Gun-control groups are battling the National Rifle Association and some law-enforcement agencies over a proposal to extend the data ban to lawsuits.
An amendment offered by Rep. Todd Tiahrt, a Kansas Republican, and adopted by the House states that ATF gun-tracing data and other dealer information "shall not be subject to subpoena or other discovery in any civil action."
Tiahrt said he offered the measure at the behest of the ATF and the Fraternal Order of Police to protect officers investigating gun traffickers.
"I was just thinking of the safety of police," he said. "Some of these undercover officers have been involved in transactions that could be disclosed by the release of trace data."
He could not name an instance, however, when an officer's safety had been compromised by a previous release of ATF gun-tracing data.
Tiahrt said dissemination of ATF data also could endanger homeland security because information given to the general public about crime guns "makes it available to criminals and terrorists" as well.
Among those affected by the Tiahrt amendment is New York City, which has accused handgun manufacturers and distributors in a lawsuit of contributing to gun crimes.
The ATF data can be used to demonstrate "the gun industry's negligence in sales practices," said Eric Proshansky, the lawyer representing the city. "The proof is sitting right there in the database."
On its website, the NRA warns that two sets of ATF computer records - "multiple handgun purchase data and firearm trace data - is being sought in various reckless civil lawsuits against the firearms industry."
Kelly Hobbs, an NRA spokeswoman, said the Tiahrt amendment also is "about protecting law enforcement" and the privacy of gun owners.
In a letter, academic researchers who have used ATF gun- tracing data claim that "efforts to prevent and control gun crime will become much more difficult - in some cases impossible" if that information is suppressed.
"In general, trace data are an unsurpassed way of studying guns used in gun crime," said Garen Wintemute, a University of California at Davis researcher who studied cheap handguns called Saturday Night Specials.
To deny those records "would take a very powerful tool for crime prevention out of the hands of those who know how to use it," he said.
The ATF has used those records in agency studies that called gun shows "a major trafficking channel" and that found 1 percent of firearms dealers accounted for 57 percent of guns traced by police in 1998.
Tiahrt said his efforts to protect ATF data were not intended to prevent the public from knowing about gun-store robberies.
"There's a lot of things that Congress does that end up with unintended consequences," he said.
ATF no longer releases data to public — and ban may grow to lawsuits
By David Olinger
Denver Post Staff Writer
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2280636,00.html
Congress has stopped a federal agency from releasing to the public records on guns used in crimes and may prevent their release in lawsuits against the gun industry as well.
Proponents call the restriction necessary to protect sensitive law-enforcement information and avoid exposing undercover officers involved in gun-trafficking investigations.
Critics fume that the gun industry simply doesn't want the public - or cities suing gun manufacturers for negligence - to have access to federal information about guns used in crimes.
"It really is just the sheer power of the gun lobby," said Kristen Rand, legislative director of the Violence Policy Center in Washington. "The bottom line is (that) the tracing database has a lot of information about how guns are used in crimes, patterns of movement. They've just decided they're going to shut down access."
The congressional ban on public releases of firearms-tracing data, placed in the current Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives budget, has led the agency to conclude it cannot answer basic questions about gun crimes.
In Colorado, for example, four local police departments confirmed five thefts from Denver-area gun stores in the last year and provided information about the numbers of guns stolen.
But the ATF decided it could not disclose information about the same thefts, or discuss other Colorado gun-store robberies, because gun-tracing records are involved.
"Because it's information derived from licensed dealer records, and we are prohibited from releasing that information," explained Gerald Petrilli, ATF chief in Denver. "I can't tell you what stores were hit."
The ATF maintains a database of guns that have been stolen or used in suspected crimes, and it traces them back by serial numbers to the licensed firearms dealers who sold them.
Those data have been used by academic researchers, law-enforcement agencies, gun-control groups and media organizations to study the effectiveness of gun laws, identify guns favored by criminals, investigate patterns of gun trafficking and describe how mass killers armed themselves.
The Denver Post previously used gun-tracing information in stories on the Columbine High massacre, police gun sales and crimes traceable to multiple handgun purchases.
ATF records also have been employed in lawsuits accusing specific gun manufacturers and distributors of supplying weapons to criminals.
This year, Congress instructed the ATF not to disclose to the public any information collected from firearms dealers and held in agency databases.
Gun-control groups are battling the National Rifle Association and some law-enforcement agencies over a proposal to extend the data ban to lawsuits.
An amendment offered by Rep. Todd Tiahrt, a Kansas Republican, and adopted by the House states that ATF gun-tracing data and other dealer information "shall not be subject to subpoena or other discovery in any civil action."
Tiahrt said he offered the measure at the behest of the ATF and the Fraternal Order of Police to protect officers investigating gun traffickers.
"I was just thinking of the safety of police," he said. "Some of these undercover officers have been involved in transactions that could be disclosed by the release of trace data."
He could not name an instance, however, when an officer's safety had been compromised by a previous release of ATF gun-tracing data.
Tiahrt said dissemination of ATF data also could endanger homeland security because information given to the general public about crime guns "makes it available to criminals and terrorists" as well.
Among those affected by the Tiahrt amendment is New York City, which has accused handgun manufacturers and distributors in a lawsuit of contributing to gun crimes.
The ATF data can be used to demonstrate "the gun industry's negligence in sales practices," said Eric Proshansky, the lawyer representing the city. "The proof is sitting right there in the database."
On its website, the NRA warns that two sets of ATF computer records - "multiple handgun purchase data and firearm trace data - is being sought in various reckless civil lawsuits against the firearms industry."
Kelly Hobbs, an NRA spokeswoman, said the Tiahrt amendment also is "about protecting law enforcement" and the privacy of gun owners.
In a letter, academic researchers who have used ATF gun- tracing data claim that "efforts to prevent and control gun crime will become much more difficult - in some cases impossible" if that information is suppressed.
"In general, trace data are an unsurpassed way of studying guns used in gun crime," said Garen Wintemute, a University of California at Davis researcher who studied cheap handguns called Saturday Night Specials.
To deny those records "would take a very powerful tool for crime prevention out of the hands of those who know how to use it," he said.
The ATF has used those records in agency studies that called gun shows "a major trafficking channel" and that found 1 percent of firearms dealers accounted for 57 percent of guns traced by police in 1998.
Tiahrt said his efforts to protect ATF data were not intended to prevent the public from knowing about gun-store robberies.
"There's a lot of things that Congress does that end up with unintended consequences," he said.
