Posted on 06/08/2007 10:02:13 AM PDT by kiriath_jearim
WASHINGTON, D.C. – In order to more effectively fight violent crime, Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) today said she will remove language, known as the “Tiahrt amendment” from this year’s CJS spending bill. The amendment, originally authored by Congressman Todd Tiahrt (R-Kansas) in 2003, limits law enforcement from sharing gun tracing information and prevents it from being used in issuing warrants and prosecuting gun-related crimes.
“Law enforcement agencies work hard every day to prevent crime and keep our neighborhoods safe. I am committed to giving them the tools they need to clean up the streets, protect our families, and fight the crime that is destroying neighborhoods and ruining dreams,” said Senator Mikulski. “America’s enforcement agencies work around the clock to keep this country safe. It is time to remove this provision to help bring corrupt gun dealers to justice.”
Chairman Mikulski has consistently expressed her commitment to looking for ways for the federal government to help law enforcement agencies keep our kids and our communities safe. A coalition of mayors, including New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Baltimore City Mayor Sheila Dixon, have advocated for the provision’s removal.
“At a time when techno-savvy law enforcement is helping keep us safe, I am shocked to hear that Virginia and Maryland authorities can’t have access to the same information to track down a gun dealer selling illegal weapons on our streets,” said Senator Mikulski. “My role in this is more than just putting money in the federal checkbook – removing this language will fundamentally give police what they need to do their job.”
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) operates the National Trace Center, which stores information on gun sales around the country, including a gun’s serial number, make, model, seller and buyer. When a gun crime is committed, police can use this data to trace where the gun was bought, who sold the gun, and who manufactured the gun. The Tiahrt amendment, which has been carried in the CJS bill since 2004, prohibits ATF from sharing information with police departments that are outside the jurisdiction of the gun-related crime.
ATF has confirmed that corrupt gun dealers are the primary source of guns in the illegal market. Also, indications have shown that lawsuits are the best tool to shutting these dealers down. Bureau data reports that 60 percent of guns used in crimes can be traced to 1 percent of the nation’s gun dealers. Removing the Tiahrt provision will dramatically improve ATF’s ability to crack down on rogue dealers.
Here’s Mayor Bloomberg’s response to Mikulski’s move:
“I want to commend Senator Mikulski for her decision to remove the Tiahrt Amendment from the appropriations bill in the key Senate subcommittee that she chairs. This language, slipped into an appropriations bill year after year, protects criminals and hurts cops by limiting law enforcement’s access to crucial gun trace data. The FBI’s crime report, released just this week, shows that crime across the country has increased for a second year in a row. We can’t wait any longer to give our police officers the crime-fighting tools they need to do their jobs. On behalf of over 225 Mayors who have joined Mayors Against Illegal Guns, I want to thank Senator Mikulski for her leadership, and I urge her colleagues in the House of Representatives to follow her example and stand up to protect our police officers and the public.”
NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! These people make me SICK.
This is a hugh biased article. They fell to mention the BATFE is aganist the removal. And it is a lie that gun dealers are the main source of illegal firearms. Friends and family members are the largest group. Legal firarms deals are a very extremely small number. They want to shut down and find a way to SUE SUE SUE gun dealers.
If this really is the case, why don't we see a large sting operation to nab these "rogue" sellers? Setting up 1% of dealers should be a relatively simple task for the ATF if the supposition is real.
Perhaps its not being done because these dealers are not really the problem?
You says she is a toad, I say she is a miserable socialist dike.
It's not an 'article'. Look where it's from (source) - Mikulski's senate website.
It's a b.s. press release from her, nothing more.
mikulski is a witch trapped in the body of a toad
“Bureau data reports that 60 percent of guns used in crimes can be traced to 1 percent of the nation’s gun dealers.”
What nonsense. Most traced guns are not even “used in crime”. Most guns that can be traced, are traced to ... duh... gun dealers. Most guns are sold by a few of the most active dealers, and a few of those are in areas where there is a lot of crime.
All of those factors conspire together to give this totally misleading “factoid” of the 60% figure. It is like saying that “60% of criminal phone calls are place over only two or three of the nations cellular phone services”. It is a logical nullity.
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