Cowboy Confessional

I hesitate to bite the editorial hand that occasionally feeds me, but the masthead memo last Sunday at the San Francisco Chronicle concerning the Tiahrt Amendment (“Aim for safety”) rhetorically missed the target.

The goal behind this series of legislation is to prevent well-documented abuse of a law enforcement tool for political gain. San Francisco was party to the failed conspiratorial litigation against firearm manufacturers on the sophistic theory that gun makers are party to the criminal misuse of their products. The legal theory, pitiful in its lack of logic, was built upon misused Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearm and Explosives (BATFE) trace data. Given the transparent attempt to bankrupt an entire industry through misappropriated and inaccurate data was the genesis of the Tiahrt amendments.

Thankfully, the amendments are available for public reading through federal web sites, and the preservation of law enforcement access to crime gun trace data is clear. The current Tiahrt amendment states that the data will remain private “except to a Federal, State, local, or foreign law enforcement agency … or local prosecutor … in connection with and for use in a bona fide criminal investigation or prosecution.” That is clear to everyone, especially the BATFE and Fraternal Order of Police who expressed “strong support” for the amendment.

In other words, cops get the data and publicity seeking politicians don’t. That is an accurate and safe aim.

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