The Tiahrt Amendment ( ) is a provision of the U.S. Department of Justice 2003

appropriations bill An appropriation, also known as supply bill or spending bill, is a proposed law that authorizes the expenditure of government funds. It is a bill that sets money aside for specific spending. In some democracies, approval of the legislature is ne ...

that prohibits the

National Tracing Center The National Tracing Center (NTC) of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is the sole firearms tracing facility in the United States. It provides information to provide foreign (international), federal, state and local law ...

of the

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE), commonly referred to as the ATF, is a domestic law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice. Its responsibilities include the investigation and prevent ...

(ATF) from releasing information from its firearms trace database to anyone other than a law enforcement agency or prosecutor in connection with a criminal investigation. This precludes gun trace data from being used in academic research of gun use in crime. Additionally, the law blocks any data legally released from being admissible in civil lawsuits against gun sellers or manufacturers. Some groups, including

Mayors Against Illegal Guns Everytown for Gun Safety is an American nonprofit organization which advocates for gun control and against gun violence. Everytown was created in 2013 when Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America joined forc ...

, believe that having further access to the ATF database would help municipal police departments track down sellers of illegal guns and curb crime. These groups are trying to repeal the Tiahrt Amendment. Numerous police organizations oppose the Tiahrt Amendment, such as the Major Cities Chiefs Association (which represents the 69 largest police departments in the United States), the

International Association of Chiefs of Police International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) is a nonprofit organization based in Alexandria, Virginia (United States). It is the world's largest professional association for police The police are a Law enforcement organization, c ...

(IACP), the

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, the

Police Executive Research Forum The Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) is a national membership organization of police executives primarily from the largest city, county and state law enforcement agencies in the United States. The organization is dedicated to improving polic ...

, the

Police Foundation The National Policing Institute, formerly known as the Police Foundation, is an American non-profit organization dedicated to advancing policing through innovation and independent scientific research. It is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. ...

, the chiefs of police of nearly every major city in California, and others. On the other hand, it is supported by the

Fraternal Order of Police The Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) is a fraternal organization consisting of sworn law enforcement officers in the United States. It reports a membership of over 355,000 members organized in 2,100 local chapters (lodges), state lodges, and th ...

, which says it is "concern dfor the safety of law enforcement officers and the integrity of law enforcement investigations. For example, the disclosure of trace requests can inadvertently reveal the names of undercover officers or informants, endangering their safety. It may also tip off the target of an investigation." The Tiahrt Amendment is also supported by the

National Rifle Association The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent Gun politics in the United States, gun rights ...

(NRA), which says that undoing the Tiahrt Amendment would lead to a rash of lawsuits against gun dealers.

History

The Tiahrt Amendment was first added by

Todd Tiahrt William Todd Tiahrt ( ; born June 15, 1951) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 1995 to 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he was elected as part of the historic Republican Wave of 1994, defeating 18-ye ...

(R-KS, after whom it is named) to the 2003 federal

. It was signed into the law as part of this bill on February 20, 2003. It was subsequently broadened in October 2003 with the addition of two provisions banning the ATF from requiring gun dealers to inspect their firearm inventories and requiring the FBI to destroy background check data within 24 hours. In 2004, it was altered again, this time to limit access to gun trace data by government officials, and to ban the use of such data in firearms license revocations or civil lawsuits. In 2008, the language was altered further, to explicitly allow ATF to publish information about statistical trends in the manufacture, import, export, sales, and criminal use of firearms. ATF can also share some gun-trace data, individually or in bulk, with some law-enforcement agencies outside ATF.

References

External links

NRA-ILA: Firearms Measure Surprises Some in GOP
Acts of the 108th United States Congress Gun politics in the United States United States federal legislation articles without infoboxes Legal history of the United States United States federal firearms legislation

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links