MAYORS AGAINST ILLEGAL GUNS COALITION RUNS TV ADS TO URGE REPEAL OF TIAHRT AMENDMENT IN ADVANCE OF UPCOMING APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE VOTE

Ads Will Run in Districts of 7Key Members of House Appropriations Committee

Patricia Tucker, Widow of Fallen Police Officer Mark Tucker, is Narrator

The bi-partisan coalition of Mayors Against Illegal Guns today launched television advertisements urging the repeal of the Tiahrt Amendment to run in the congressional districts of key members of the House Appropriations Committee. The House committee will soon hold a critical vote to remove the Tiahrt language from this year’s appropriations bill. The removal of the Tiahrt Amendment is the top legislative priority of the over 225-member coalition, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, co-chaired by New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino. The advertisement, featuring the widow of a fallen police officer, is part of the coalition’s ProtectPolice.org internet, television and print media campaign. The advertisements are running in the districts of Representative James Walsh (R-NY), Representative Frank Wolf (R-VA), Representative C.W. Bill Young (R-FL), Representative Ralph Regula (R-OH), Representative Tim Ryan (R-OH), Representative John Murtha (D-PA) and Representative Chet Edwards (D-TX). Last week, Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-MD) took the first step by announcing she will remove the Tiahrt Amendment language from the Senate version of the key appropriations bill. The new advertisements are available on www.protectpolice.org/tucker.

“The upcoming vote is a chance for members of the Appropriations Committee to stand up for our nation’s police officers,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “The Tiahrt Amendment only helps illegal gun traffickers and rogue gun dealers, while it endangers the police and public. I urge the House of Representatives to follow the example set by Senator Mikulski and remove the Tiahrt restrictions from the House bill.”

The television advertisement is the latest part of the ProtectPolice.org media campaign the coalition launched to encourage the removal of the Tiahrt Amendment. In the ad, Patricia Tucker, widow of fallen Wake County, North Carolina Sheriff’s Office Deputy Sherriff/Investigator Mark Tucker, encourages Congress to protect police officers instead of criminals. A new moving billboard is also being driven around Washington D.C. featuring a poster asking “Why is Congress soft on crime?” Last week the Mayors delivered an open letter to Congress that ran as a full-page advertisement in USA Today. The letter, which is signed by 225 mayors who are members of the coalition, outlines the coalition’s objections to the Tiahrt Amendment. In April, at a coalition event hosted by Jersey City, New Jersey Mayor Jerramiah Healy, the coalition announced the ProtectPolice.org media campaign’s first television advertisements on broadcast and cable outlets in targeted Congressional districts. The first television advertisement featured Chaska, Minnesota Chief of Police Scott Knight and is available for viewing on www.protectpolice.org.

The Tiahrt Amendment, a version of which has been inserted into the Department of Justice appropriations bill each year since Fiscal Year 2003, places broad restrictions on the use of crime gun trace data. It also prevents local governments and police from accessing federal crime gun trace data from areas outside their immediate geographic jurisdiction; prevents cities from use of trace data in state and local civil enforcement actions, including gun license revocations; and prevents the ATF from publishing reports that use crime gun trace data to analyze nationwide gun trafficking patterns.

The Mayors campaign to remove the Tiahrt Amendment enjoys wide support from law enforcement. Ten national law enforcement organizations – including the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, and Major Cities Chiefs Association – and 23 state and regional law enforcement organizations, including the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police and the Texas Association of Chiefs of Police, as well as the American Hunters and Shooters Association have all joined the Mayors’ call for the removal of the Tiahrt Amendment. For more information on the Tiahrt Amendment visit www.protectpolice.org and www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org.