Minneapolis, St. Paul police need Congress's help to trace guns.
July 03, 2007
This year began with optimism in law-enforcement circles that the current crime surge could be curbed by opening the flow of information between federal agencies and local cops about the widespread traffic in illegal guns.
…The nation's mayors, including R.T. Rybak of Minneapolis and Chris Coleman of St. Paul, joined a bipartisan effort led by New York's Michael Bloomberg to make it clear that local police investigations are greatly hampered by Congress-imposed restrictions on tracing guns used in crimes. Nearly 200 mayors, along with national associations of law-enforcement officers, joined the effort.
Progress seemed even more likely after the 33 killings at Virginia Tech in April, when it was discovered that a lack of free-flowing information among federal, state and local officials had led to the sale of semiautomatic weapons to a clearly disqualified buyer.
But never underestimate the power of the gun lobby -- and its campaign contributions. Last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted 19-10 against repealing the so-called Tiahrt Amendment, the series of federal provisions, first passed in 2003, that deny police and prosecutors access to information about guns used in local crimes. Named after Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan., the provisions also prevent local authorities from sharing information about the origin of crime guns and prohibit the publishing of national data about how illegal guns move from state to state.
As if that weren't sufficient to hogtie law-enforcement officials, the Senate committee last week inserted new language threatening local cops with jail if they use federal gun-tracing data to track the general problem of illegal gun trafficking.
The fear, according to the NRA, is that local authorities will use the data to launch civil suits against firearms manufacturers and retailers. That's unfounded. This effort isn't about harassing the industry or stripping away Second Amendment rights; it's about making it harder for violent criminals to obtain guns.
Minneapolis police collected 1,200 illegal guns last year, but were prevented from discovering where the guns came from. Protecting shady gun dealers has become a hallmark of the NRA and, unfortunately, the U.S. Congress. Both will have blood on their hands if they persist in standing in the way of local police investigations.
We know that guns alone don't kill and rob; criminals are required. But we know also that thugs would be far less lethal without easy access to guns. Our hope is that the full Senate and the House will find wisdom on this issue.
