Mayors target guns database

Hickenlooper joins those who want to repeal 2003 law

Alan Gathright And Laura Frank, Rocky Mountain News

Published June 8, 2007 at midnight

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Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and 224 other U.S. mayors ran a hard-hitting newspaper ad this week demanding that Congress overturn a 2003 law they say blocks police officers' ability to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.

But the author of the law says the mayors are mistaken. He suggested that the campaign, organized by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, might be a political move by Bloomberg as a prelude to a presidential run.

"America can't afford a Congress that is soft on crime," said the full-page USA Today ad with a photo of police officers carrying a fallen comrade's coffin. The ad includes an open letter to Democratic and Republican congressional leaders.

"This new Congress has a chance to stand up - and stand with us - in the fight for public safety . . . Will you?" asks the letter bearing the name of Hickenlooper and other mayors.

It was run by a bipartisan group called Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

At issue is a clause in the 2003 Department of Justice spending legislation restricting local government and police access to a federal database of guns.

With serial numbers of guns recovered at crime scenes, police could use the database to learn who is selling and buying the weapons, police and mayors say. They say they could pinpoint possible kingpins in the illegal sale of firearms.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives collects the information. Without access to it, the ad argues, police are forced "to investigate gun crime one shooting at a time instead of attacking it at its source."

The campaign is backed by 33 national and state police groups, as well as the American Hunters and Shooters Association.

The clause in the law is called the Tiahrt Amendment for Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Kansas.

A Tiahrt spokesman, Chuck Knapp, said local police and prosecutors can get the data they need. He said Tiahrt is in talks with other lawmakers about tweaking the language of the bill to make that easier.

"But repealing the Tiarht amendment would mean anybody . . . can get that information," Knapp said. "And that includes names of investigators and targeted gun dealers. That could be dangerous."

Amendment supporters say the law protects gun owners' constitutional right to bear arms and shields the identity of undercover officers.

Knapp said Tiarht had been in talks since January with Bloomberg about improving the amendment, but Bloomberg suddenly broke off the discussion.

"We've heard the rumors that Mr. Bloomberg wants to run for president," Knapp said.

Bloomberg, a Republican, and Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, a Democrat, are leading the campaign. The mayors' group says some lawmakers are just too beholden to the gun lobby.

They cite a 2003 Washington Post story that quotes Tiahrt saying, "I wanted to make sure I was fulfilling the needs of my friends who are firearms dealers."

Hickenlooper has said the mayors' campaign is not anti-gun but "anti-putting guns in the hands of violent criminals."

Spokeswoman Marlena Fernandez Berkowitz said Thursday that Denver police have "good partnerships in place with other local jurisdictions and federal law enforcement agencies" as they go after criminals.

"Congressional interference with these joint efforts to combat gun violence is unwelcome and inhibits law enforcement effectiveness. We urge Congress to repeal the Tiahrt Amendment," she said.

gathrighta@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5486

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