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Don't weaken gun laws

By Times editorial
Published July 13, 2006

The gun lobby usually gets its way with Congress, but we hope lawmakers will just say no to the latest attempt to undo two common-sense gun laws. The Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to consider today legislation that would cost lives and hamper law enforcement.

The House attached a couple of riders to the 2007 Justice Department budget that is now before the Senate. One of the amendments would repeal a law, passed last October, that requires trigger locks to be sold with all new handguns. The other would limit local and state law enforcement agencies' access to gun-tracking data compiled by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

A host of law enforcement groups - including the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Major Cities Chiefs and scores of individual state and local chiefs of police - have written letters urging Congress to reject the proposed changes in federal gun laws.

Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 1.7-million children lived in homes where there were unlocked, loaded handguns. Reducing the number of gun locks would undoubtedly add to that statistic and increase the number of accidental deaths caused by firearms.

Is the cost of saving the lives of children and providing law enforcement with a way to track firearms used in crimes really that burdensome to gun owners?

ATF estimates show that 50 percent of the guns recovered in crimes are traced back to 1 percent of the gun dealers in America. The ability to track this information would give law enforcement officers a means to stop illegal gun traffickers. Supporters of the proposed amendment say it would protect law enforcement investigations from criminals who could gain access to this data and discover if they are a target.

In a letter to Congress on Monday, retired ATF officials, including former directors Steven Higgins and Rex Davis, wrote that limiting gun-tracking information would be "an obstacle to case development that is unknown elsewhere in law enforcement" because it would discourage ATF agents from sharing trace data with members of other police agencies. This, they wrote, would "help shield serious criminal offenders from discovery."

The Senate should heed the advice of law enforcement officials and kill these noxious gun amendments.

[Last modified July 13, 2006, 06:21:08]