Twin City Times- Thursday, May 14th, 2009
Mayor's Corner #86
Last week President Barack Obama released the full FY 2010 Budget that includes very specific language detailing the operations of the U.S. Department of Justice operations. It proposes the reform of the major Tiahrt restrictions that prevented law enforcement from having full access to gun trace data. Removing these restrictions will assist police by enabling access to aggregated data to analyze gun trafficking patterns and networks. As a retired law enforcement officer currently serving as mayor of a city, this to me is only commonsensical.
Although I am pleased with the president’s positive step, it still does not go far enough. I will share with you below a letter I faxed to President Obama at the White House on March 24, 2009 with reference to removing the Tiahrt Amendment Restrictions from the FY 2010 Budget.
In the All-America City of Lewiston, Maine, gun violence is never acceptable at any level. As Mayor, it is my responsibility to work with our police chief to find new and better ways to prevent bloodshed. The common thread of gun violence is the flow of illegal guns to the criminal market. In order to give Lewiston’s law enforcement officers the tools they need to track down the criminals who sell and use illegal guns, I urge you to repeal the restrictions contained in the so-called “Tiahrt Amendments.”
For years, the Bush Administration and Congress have made it more difficult for police to do their jobs by attaching the Tiahrt Amendments to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) appropriations bills. These provisions prevent ATF from releasing certain information to cities and states.
I am pleased to see that you have made repealing the Tiahrt Amendments a part of your Administration’s Urban Policy Agenda. In order to achieve this goal, I urge you to remove the Tiahrt trace restrictions in a manner consistent with S.2769, the Firearms Information Use Act of 2008, which you co-sponsored as a Senator in April, 2008.
I also urge your Administration to remove other restrictions within the Tiahrt Amendments that make it more difficult for ATF and local law enforcement to do their jobs. Namely, I urge the removal of the Tiahrt riders that require FBI to destroy certain NICS (National Instant Check System) background check records within 24 hours and block ATF from requiring gun dealers to check their inventories to detect lost and stolen guns.
Removing these dangerous restrictions on essential data that law enforcement officers need to track gun traffickers has nothing to do with the gun rights of law abiding citizens, which I support. This is about effective law enforcement and keeping guns out of the hands of criminals.
Thank you for your leadership in this matter. I look forward to working with your Administration and with other mayors across the country to improve public safety for all Americans.
Sincerely,
/s/ Laurent F. Gilbert, Sr.
Mayor of Lewiston, Maine
Although I am pleased that President Obama has taken a significant first step by removing the restrictions that limited state and local police to access gun trace data solely in connection with a particular investigation, there are still two restrictions that remain in place. They are the Destruction of FBI Background Check Records Within 24Hours and the Prohibition on Inventory Checking Requirements. This latest restriction means ATF has no way of knowing how many guns go missing each year from the 90% of dealers it does not have the number of personnel necessary to conduct these inspections.
It has been my experience in 38 years in law enforcement, that the National Rifle Association (NRA) as well as the Sportsman Alliance of Maine (SAM) that is closely aligned with the NRA that they oppose most any gun legislation whether it makes sense or not. I firmly believe that hunters and target shooters have every right to enjoy their sport and I fully support the Second Amendment to our Constitution. However, I am a member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns who support common sense gun legislation such as I’ve mentioned above in my letter to the President.
I recently testified before the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee of the Maine Legislature in support of An Act Regarding the Sale of Weapons at Fun Shows so that those who are not gun dealers be required to have the criminal background check done prior to the sale of a gun at a gun show similar to the requirements of gun dealers.
That same day, testimony on another bill was heard and that was An Act To Increase Public Safety by Requiring a Federally Licensed Firearms Dealer To Facilitate the Transfer of Firearms. This bill would have required certain private transfers of firearms to be assisted by licensed firearms dealers to request a criminal history record check.
Both bills received a unanimous “ought not to pass” from the committee succumbing to the strong lobbying of the NRA and SAM. Some legislators are truly fearful of this lobby in spite of the fact that bi-partisan polling has shown that a significant majority of the people in this country and Maine favor such common sense legislation.
How then can we expect law enforcement officers to do their job when we handcuff them? It will require the silent majority to speak out in order to reverse the results of a strong lobby that has control of many of our legislators right here in Maine.
