Gun violence prevention advocates, public health researchers and members of the media are the "usual suspects" pushing officials at different levels of government for information about firearms used in crime.
Unfortunately, these groups are frequently stymied by the Tiahrt restrictions, which place unnecessary limits on what government officials can say about such weapons. This secrecy helps keep the public in the dark about the nature of the illegal gun market, and makes it difficult for public officials to formulate policy to disrupt illegal gun trafficking and use.
Now, in the wake of the tragic shootings of four Oakland police officers in March, a California gun lobby organization known as Calguns finds itself also trying to get crime gun information about the weapons used in those murders. In their case, they want to oppose efforts to make high-capacity ammunition magazines harder to get in California rather than stop illegal gun sales, but their position is instructive.
Former Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan said, "You are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts." Apart from their views about gun violence prevention, the effort by Calguns suggests that they too realize that the public needs to know the facts about guns involved in shootings and other crimes in order to adequately debate gun policy.
The question of public access to crime gun trace data is a little dry, and it may be difficult to keep the public's interest for very long. Still, if we want to do something about the 100,000 deaths and injuries from guns that occur every year in this country, we need to learn more about what guns are used in crime and where they come from.
It was because of these issues that candidate Barack Obama made a specific promise to repeal the Tiahrt Amendment during his 2008 campaign. His Administration has yet to do what he promised, however, and efforts to combat the illegal gun market - which fuels gun crime across America - are suffering because of it.
(Note to readers: This entry, along with past entries, has been co-posted on bradycampaign.org/blog and the Huffington Post.)
