Editorial

July 19, 2007

This is a violent culture where criminals have easy access to firearms...

Suppose, then, that a law enforcement agency could get only limited information from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives about guns used in crimes. Suppose further that while such an agency could obtain ATF data about guns used in specific local crimes, it would be refused wider-reaching, gun-trace data that could uncover patterns of abuse.

If this were so, you'd suppose Congress would move swiftly to give police the tools they need to do their jobs and keep Americans safe. You would be wrong. This is what happens now. It has happened since 2003 because of the so-called Tiahrt amendment, named for the foolish congressman, Republican Rep. Todd Tiahrt of Kansas, who made it the law.

Don't suppose for a minute that, because Democrats control Congress, this absurdity will change. Recently, the House Appropriations Committee defeated two attempts to change this obnoxious provision with some Democrats joining Republicans. The full House must take up the issue, as must the Senate, although the version before the Senate is more onerous than present law to the cause of law enforcement.

Chalk it up to the enduring power of the National Rifle Association and the congressmen who slavishly pay it fealty. The gun lobby was able to play upon an array of wayward fears, including the crusading efforts of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has sued out-of-state gun dealers in an attempt to reduce the flow of illegal guns into the city, an effort that the Tiahrt amendment confounds. Mr. Tiahrt argued that easing the restrictions in his amendment could lead to the disclosure of police officers' identities and other details to criminals.

This was bunkum of the highest order. A letter sent to Congress by 32 national and state police organizations and many other individual law-enforcement leaders noted that the "Tiahrt provision puts new and unjustified limits on ATF's disclosure of trace data to law enforcement agencies."

As for supposedly protecting the identities of undercover agents, the letter noted that for many years the ATF has withheld information it felt could compromise investigations or the safety of officers.

From all this, you can suppose Congress cannot be trusted to do almost any sensible thing concerning firearms, even in the service of law and order and public safety.