Editorial

July 18, 2007

Crime is a constant concern of the American people and for good reason: 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 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 -- and might put the long arm of the law on the backs of criminals.

If this were so, you'd suppose Congress would move swiftly to give the 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 a foolish congressman, Republican Rep. Todd Tiahrt of Kansas, who made it the law.

Don't suppose for a minute that because Democrats control Congress that this absurdity is going to change. Last week, the House Appropriations Committee defeated two attempts to change this obnoxious provision with some Democrats joining Republicans. In the only recorded vote, Rep. John Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat, voted to keep the provision in the law. 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 the Tiahrt amendment confounds.

Tiahrt himself, according to the Associated Press, argued that easing the restrictions in his amendment could lead to the disclosure of police officers' identities and other details to criminals. "What the Tiahrt amendment does is protect those who protect us," he said brazenly.

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. "We know of no evidence that past ATF disclosures ... have had an adverse impact on law enforcement," the letter said.

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