Kathianne
07-14-2007, 06:21 PM
2nd amendment
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/13/nyregion/13guns.html?ex=1342065600&en=a5845ad36d0b8c20&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
July 13, 2007
House Panel Supports Limiting Access to Data on Guns, Dealing a Blow to Bloomberg
By DIANE CARDWELL
A key Congressional committee dealt a major blow to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s campaign against illegal firearms yesterday, refusing to allow police departments broader access to data that tracks guns sales.
The bill restricting release of the information, approved by the House Appropriations Committee, must still be passed by the full House and reconciled with a similar Senate measure. But since the Senate bill is considered even more beneficial to the gun industry, the Bloomberg administration appeared resigned to defeat.
A statement from Mayor Bloomberg called the vote “a profound disappointment.” “While I was hopeful that the Congressional committee would stand up to the special interests,” the statement read, “at least this measure was given public consideration and was debated for several hours instead of being inserted into an appropriations bill in the dead of night.”
The vote came as the Bloomberg administration was being strained by fights in Albany, throwing his agenda into uncertainty. But his war against the gun measure has been perhaps his most high-profile and personal, and triggered intense opposition from the National Rifle Association.
Attempting Transforming himself into a national spokesman for gun control, Mayor Bloomberg, who recently left the Republican Party, has traveled the country for more than a year, lobbying Congress, rallying hundreds of other mayors and financing a media campaign aimed at the end of what he once called a “godawful piece of legislation.”
That legislation, known as the Tiahrt Amendment, for Representative Todd Tiahrt, the Republican from Kansas who introduced it, is intended to keep trace data, which shows the path from manufacturer to retail purchase of a gun recovered in a crime, from being used in civil suits against gun dealers and manufacturers.
Under the provision approved by the House committee yesterday, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives can release the information only to law enforcement agencies or officials in connection with criminal investigations or to federal agencies for national security or intelligence purposes. Some law enforcement officials who support the measure have argued that broader release of the information could jeopardize their investigations.
But the Bloomberg administration, as well as gun control advocates and other law enforcement officials, argue that the measure hinders their ability to see regional patterns in gun trafficking because it does not allow the bureau to release aggregate trace data, including that of other jurisdictions. The amendment itself does not prohibit cities and towns from sharing the information with each other, but some law enforcement officials say it is difficult and cumbersome to do so on their own.
Chris W. Cox, chief lobbyist for the N.R.A., said that the vote showed that members of Congress were convinced that it was not worth risking the lives of law enforcement officers and the privacy rights of gun owners “simply to pursue a failed political agenda” of using law enforcement data for lawsuits against the gun industry. He said, “It was a great win for rank-and-file law enforcement and a great win for the N.R.A. and those who were concerned about sensitive law enforcement data being released into the public domain.”
But gun control advocates accused Congress of pandering to the gun lobby and jeopardizing the ability of law enforcement officials to crack down on gun crime.
Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said that gun control advocates hope to start building a campaign for next year.
“It’s frustrating,” he said. He added that because the Tiahrt Amendment, a rider attached to spending bills, had been passed every year since 2003, “it’s tough to get rid of.”
Meanwhile, the mayor faces battles in Albany over other initiatives, including his plan to charge motorists who drive in the busiest parts of Manhattan and a measure to put a recycling station on the Hudson River near Gansevoort Street as part of a citywide waste-management plan.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/13/nyregion/13guns.html?ex=1342065600&en=a5845ad36d0b8c20&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
July 13, 2007
House Panel Supports Limiting Access to Data on Guns, Dealing a Blow to Bloomberg
By DIANE CARDWELL
A key Congressional committee dealt a major blow to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s campaign against illegal firearms yesterday, refusing to allow police departments broader access to data that tracks guns sales.
The bill restricting release of the information, approved by the House Appropriations Committee, must still be passed by the full House and reconciled with a similar Senate measure. But since the Senate bill is considered even more beneficial to the gun industry, the Bloomberg administration appeared resigned to defeat.
A statement from Mayor Bloomberg called the vote “a profound disappointment.” “While I was hopeful that the Congressional committee would stand up to the special interests,” the statement read, “at least this measure was given public consideration and was debated for several hours instead of being inserted into an appropriations bill in the dead of night.”
The vote came as the Bloomberg administration was being strained by fights in Albany, throwing his agenda into uncertainty. But his war against the gun measure has been perhaps his most high-profile and personal, and triggered intense opposition from the National Rifle Association.
Attempting Transforming himself into a national spokesman for gun control, Mayor Bloomberg, who recently left the Republican Party, has traveled the country for more than a year, lobbying Congress, rallying hundreds of other mayors and financing a media campaign aimed at the end of what he once called a “godawful piece of legislation.”
That legislation, known as the Tiahrt Amendment, for Representative Todd Tiahrt, the Republican from Kansas who introduced it, is intended to keep trace data, which shows the path from manufacturer to retail purchase of a gun recovered in a crime, from being used in civil suits against gun dealers and manufacturers.
Under the provision approved by the House committee yesterday, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives can release the information only to law enforcement agencies or officials in connection with criminal investigations or to federal agencies for national security or intelligence purposes. Some law enforcement officials who support the measure have argued that broader release of the information could jeopardize their investigations.
But the Bloomberg administration, as well as gun control advocates and other law enforcement officials, argue that the measure hinders their ability to see regional patterns in gun trafficking because it does not allow the bureau to release aggregate trace data, including that of other jurisdictions. The amendment itself does not prohibit cities and towns from sharing the information with each other, but some law enforcement officials say it is difficult and cumbersome to do so on their own.
Chris W. Cox, chief lobbyist for the N.R.A., said that the vote showed that members of Congress were convinced that it was not worth risking the lives of law enforcement officers and the privacy rights of gun owners “simply to pursue a failed political agenda” of using law enforcement data for lawsuits against the gun industry. He said, “It was a great win for rank-and-file law enforcement and a great win for the N.R.A. and those who were concerned about sensitive law enforcement data being released into the public domain.”
But gun control advocates accused Congress of pandering to the gun lobby and jeopardizing the ability of law enforcement officials to crack down on gun crime.
Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said that gun control advocates hope to start building a campaign for next year.
“It’s frustrating,” he said. He added that because the Tiahrt Amendment, a rider attached to spending bills, had been passed every year since 2003, “it’s tough to get rid of.”
Meanwhile, the mayor faces battles in Albany over other initiatives, including his plan to charge motorists who drive in the busiest parts of Manhattan and a measure to put a recycling station on the Hudson River near Gansevoort Street as part of a citywide waste-management plan.