Todd Tiahrt (R-KS): Protector of rogue arms dealers from police crime gun tracing

[ProgressiveEconomist]

Who's running thousands of guns to big-city criminal gangs? Apparently, some Congressmen DON'T want the police to find out. It would be interesting to trace their caimpaign "contributions".

From http://www.gunguys.com/?p=2094 :

"Bloomberg Fights Against Tiahrt, Kansas Station Refuses to Air Ad

April 24, 2007

Eric Schneiderman over at the DMIBlog has posted a very dense but interesting article providing a really in-depth background on the battle over the Tiahrt Amendment. He goes step by step into the factors behind the bill: this is a piece of legislation that actually keeps police departments from sharing important data about where crime guns come from. ...

'As if granting the gun industry immunity from most civil liability weren¡t bad enough, Congress took another even more insidious step. At the behest of the gun lobby, Congress attached riders to the last three appropriation bills for the ATF- the Tiahrt Amendments - barring the ATF from sharing crime gun trace data with municipalities or local law enforcement, except for data relating to a specific crime. ... This provision makes it impossible for cities that bear the brunt of the illegal gun problem to either target their law enforcement resources effectively against illegal guns within their jurisdiction, or to identify the gun dealers outside their jurisdiction who are supplying illegal guns to their communities and seek to have their reckless behavior enjoined by the courts. ...'

... when Bloomberg produced and delivered a television ad to Tiahrt's district in Kansas, one station there decided not to air it. (You can see the ad here on this Gun Guys post). ... The spot urging its repeal is airing in the congressional districts of the Democrat and the Republican who lead the House subcommittee considering the amendment. It was set to appear on a CBS affiliate in the Kansas district of Republican Rep. Todd Tiahrt, who authored the measure. ..."

[ProgressiveEconomist]

1. Anonymous Recommender: Thanks for the "R"; I'll supply the "K".