September 15, 2006 

U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, the Menomonee Falls Republican, backs a bill that would keep the public in the dark about the source of guns used in crimes and hamper the sharing of information by police departments. Police chiefs here and around the nation oppose this legislation, and even President Bush's Justice Department warns that it would have a "chilling effect" on the investigation of crimes.

Not surprisingly, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, in the throes of a battle against gun crime, took the House Judiciary Committee to task for passing HR 5005. Sensenbrenner, who chairs the committee, responded with name-calling. Perhaps it was his way of diverting attention from a preposterous idea.

Sensenbrenner should disassociate himself from this soft-on-crime measure, which only makes the gun lobby and the outlaw class happy. The House should vote it down.

Besides classifying the origins of guns as top secret, the proposal eliminates a rule that dealers alert authorities when they sell more than two guns in five days to the same person - a break for private gun traffickers, from whom outlaws often get guns, but a huge setback for law enforcement.

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Sensenbrenner also claimed opponents of the bill were trying "to take guns away from law-abiding citizens." Wrong again. The ability to trace guns to the initial buyers and to stores is hardly confiscation.

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