OPINION
Special Interest Politics Should Never Rise Above Protecting Law Enforcement Lives
There’s a move among senior Biden administration officials to remove a law that protects the integrity of police investigations that trace firearms recovered at crime scenes.
This move won’t make it easier for law enforcement to do their jobs:
- In fact, it could put their lives at risk.
- It could jeopardize ongoing investigations.
- It could shatter the integrity of the cases special agents and local law enforcement officers together are building to take down illegal firearm traffickers.
And some believe it's being pushed simply to satisfy nothing more than political favors to special interest groups and donors.
There’s word that certain senior Biden administration officials will call for the repeal of the Tiahrt Amendment.
That’s a law, enacted in 2003, that protects from public disclosure law enforcement sensitive trace data contained within the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) National Tracing Center’s (NTC) Firearm Tracing System (FTS).
This is the database of firearms that have been recovered and traced by law enforcement in connection with a bona fide criminal investigation.
The Tiahrt Amendment allows law enforcement to have access to and share trace information with others in law enforcement.
It only prevents the public disclosure of this sensitive data outside of law enforcement.
Keep in mind current law does not preclude the sharing of aggregate information by state or even municipality.
That could change, as a result of pressure from the Biden administration.
It could have deadly consequences for our men and women protecting us from the criminals who don’t have a second thought about community safety or regard for the law.
I once ran the ATF, the agency charged with running down, arresting, and stopping illegal firearm trafficking — I know.
If the Tiahrt Amendment were repealed, it could seriously undermine, if not eviscerate, the critically important investigations ATF special agents and local law enforcement are building to bring illegal firearm traffickers to justice.
The ATF recently released NTC tracing data to USA Today and Brady United.
It appeared to be a bureaucratic oversight.
However, it's becoming clearer that some within the administration see this as a calculated opportunity to set the conditions for a "name-and-shame" effort to smear firearm retailers and manufacturers, at the expense of ATF’s important and well-executed mission, which includes relationships with those in the industry who also want to keep firearms out of the hands of prohibited persons.
The ATF has long held that firearm trace data isn’t to be used as a political tool.
ATF said in the1998 Crime Gun Trace Analysis Reports, "The appearance of [a licensed dealer] or a first unlicensed purchaser of record in association with a crime gun or in association with multiple crime guns in no way suggests that either the federal firearms licensed dealer (FFL) or the first purchaser has committed criminal acts.
"Rather, such information may provide a starting point for further and more detailed investigation."
Anyone calling for the repeal of laws that protect firearm trace data are ignoring the importance of protecting investigations, sources, and most importantly, the lives of our law enforcement.
To repeal the Tiahrt Amendment is to gamble with police officers' lives.
The Tiahrt Amendment, that limits releasing firearm trace data to law enforcement to assist in their investigations and public safety efforts, has always been supported by the ATF.
It’s been supported by the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), which represents over 355,000 men and women in blue, with 2,100 chapters across America. Congress has agreed.
So has the Department of Justice (DOJ).
All law enforcement eyes are laser-focused on this administration to ensure that criminal investigations of firearm trace data are protected.
Sadly, America has already seen what happens when politicians put special interests above the lives and safety of the men and women wearing a badge.
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg gambled with firearm trace data once and it cost the ATF several, if not over a dozen, ongoing investigations, as reported by the New York Daily News on May 21, 2006.
He used firearm trace data that was shared with the New York City Police Department (NYPD), in an attempt to build a case for a lawsuit against members of the firearm industry.
WNBC reported on May 26, 2006, that the same 15 gun stores targeted by Bloomberg’s private investigators and later named in his civil lawsuits, sold at least 640 guns between 1994 and 2001 that were subsequently linked to crimes committed in New York.
That’s information that could only be gleaned from protected firearm-trace data available only to law enforcement for bona fide investigations.
Bloomberg turned the trace data over to private investigators who he ordered to conduct "sting" operations of out-of-state firearm retailers — without the knowledge of ATF or even his own police commissioner.
The result was as predictable as it was dangerously doomed.
The DOJ probed the actions of the mayor’s private investigators.
Michael Battles, Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys at the DOJ, warned the city against engaging in similar schemes because it could "interrupt or jeopardize ongoing criminal investigations."
Bloomberg’s own police commissioner, Ray Kelly, urged the DOJ to oppose publicly disclosing firearm trace data sought by then-Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, Jr. wanted to use in civil litigation against the firearm industry.
Commissioner Kelly’s letter warned, in part, that disclosing firearm trace data would "compromise critical law enforcement investigations and endanger the lives of police officers and members of the public."
The Tiahrt Amendment doesn’t stop the ATF or local law enforcement from sharing firearm trace data. That information can be and is shared as part of bona fide investigations.
The law simply states that the sensitive firearm trace data cannot be disclosed outside of law enforcement, where it jeopardizes investigations and puts lives at risk.
Special interests seek this information to spin political narratives. That doesn’t help law enforcement, especially ATF special agents do their job. In fact, it makes it harder.
The firearm trace data that comes from investigations of alleged criminal misuse of firearms is — and should only be — available to law enforcement in connection with a bona fide criminal investigation. Senior administration officials calling for repeals to protecting these investigations do more than pander to political activists.
They betray trust — the trust of the law enforcement officers who put their lives on the line to protect us and the public that trusts law enforcement to carry out the law without favor or malice.
Michael J. Sullivan is the former acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives who has also served as the U.S attorney for the District of Massachusetts and as the Plymouth County district attorney.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.