Your Help Is Needed to Get Illegal Guns Off the Streets
The House Appropriations Committee Vote on Whether to Eliminate Tiahrt restrictions on ATF sharing crime gun trace data has been postponed until after the 4th of July recess.
This is an extremely important vote for us. Since the start of the Bush administration, there have been restrictions on the release of crime gun trace data added to ATF appropriations which makes it difficult for law enforcement to go after illegal guns and gun traffickers. **(For more information see below)
Representative David Obey has not said how he will vote on this issue. Constituent calls to him will be very important in persuading him to vote to oppose these Tiahrt restrictions on crime gun trace data. Could you please call Representative Obey this week and also try to get two or three friends to make similar calls. The other side is very good at calling and we need to match them. Also, the appropriations bills are very complex so we need to point up this provision to members of Congress. Your call will make a real difference. Here’s what you can do to help:
1) Call Representative Obey at 202-225-3365. Calls to Washington are the best but you can also call the district office in Wausau at 715-842-5606.
2) Ask Representative Obey to oppose the Tiahrt restrictions on the release of crime gun tracing information. Let him know that these restrictions have been attached to the Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriation Bill which the Committee will be considering next week and that law enforcement needs access to complete crime gun trace data in order to go after illegal guns and gun traffickers.
Thank you very much for your help with this!
**The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) operates a National Tracing Center which traces guns picked up by law enforcement at crime scenes back to the original manufacturer and eventually to the dealer that sold the gun. When the criminal who used the gun is identified, this information is also stored in the trace database. Thus this database answers questions about guns used in crime, gun dealers who have a high number of guns traced to crime, guns used in certain cities and states and by certain age groups. In fact, this information was compiled and released by ATF in its annual Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative (YCGII) prior to the Tiahrt restrictions. On the ATF WEB site under Firearms, Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiatives (YCGII) it states, “The information contained in these reports demonstrate ATF’s commitment to the YCGII program, and to the protection of our citizens. The enforcement approach embodied in YCGII provides each community the opportunity and ability to customize their efforts to address their own gun problems, trends, sources, and investigations.”
Law enforcement previously used this data to look for patterns of gun trafficking. Researchers as well as legislators used it to evaluate certain gun policies. The public used it to advocate for changes in policy. Despite what the opposition says, on-going enforcement cases were not compromised by the release of aggregate data to the public.