NEWTOWN, Conn. June 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Shooting Sports Foundation, the firearm industry's trade association, is hailing passage of a law enforcement friendly amendment sponsored by Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) which cleared the Senate Appropriations Committee as part of a spending bill with a demonstrative victory evident by a 19 - 10 vote. Similar language was approved by a House subcommittee handling that chamber's version of the legislation.
"This is a great victory for law enforcement and a sound defeat for those seeking to misuse firearms tracing data -- jeopardizing the lives of law enforcement officers -- in order to file civil lawsuits against members of the firearms industry," said NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel Lawrence G. Keane. "The Shelby amendment is about securing investigations and protecting lives."
While the Shelby amendment will prohibit local politicians and the general public from accessing confidential firearms tracing data, law enforcement at all levels will retain full access and the authority to share the information with others in blue.
Citing the threats to law enforcement officers, witnesses and others, Congress, ATF and law enforcement groups such as the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) and the Southern States Police Benevolent Association have all been vocal supporters of securing firearms tracing data. In a recent op-ed piece to the Wichita Eagle, FOP President Chuck Canterbury stated, "... the officers in the field who are actually working illegal gun cases know that releasing sensitive information about pending cases can jeopardize the integrity of an investigation or even place the lives of undercover officers in danger. That is why the Fraternal Order of Police has always supported language protecting firearms trace data."
Opponents of the legislation, led by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is currently suing the firearms industry, falsely claimed the amendment would restrict law enforcement from accessing and sharing the tracing data. To Mayor Bloomberg's dismay, in a Scripps News op-ed piece, ATF Acting Director Michael Sullivan corrected the untruth, stating, "Let me be clear: neither the congressional language nor ATF rules prohibit the sharing of trace data with law enforcement conducting criminal investigations, or place any restrictions on the sharing of trace data with other jurisdictions once it is in the hands of state or local law enforcement."
In another victory for law enforcement an amendment sponsored by Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) that would have invalidated the Shelby amendment was soundly defeated 18 - 11.
"When it authorized restrictions on public access and use of gun trace data, Congress correctly understood that this sensitive information was a crime-fighting tool always intended solely for use by law enforcement and that, in the wrong hands, it could be recklessly misused," said Keane. "Those legitimate concerns are still valid today.
"As the Shelby amendment works its way through the legislative process, NSSF will look forward to educating lawmakers in the Senate and House of
Representatives on the importance of putting public safety and the lives of law enforcement ahead of gun control politics," concluded Keane.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation
CONTACT: Ted Novin of The National Shooting Sports Foundation,
+1-203-426-1320 or cell, +1-202-253-1860, tnovin@nssf.org
Web site: http://www.nssf.org/
