Editorial: Fighting gun violence

Gun violence is again approaching crisis stage in cities across the nation. What does it take to respond to the increased number of shootings and deaths?

Sunday's story in The Bee, "Sacramento's killer guns," stated the issue starkly for our community: "Nearly every night, somewhere in Sacramento, gunshots puncture the air. By the end of most weekends, there is another homicide to report."

The big question: Where are all of those guns coming from?

Sacramento, like other cities, faces two major obstacles to answering this question. Both are fixable -- if lawmakers have the courage to fight extremists in the gun lobby.

The first problem is lack of information. In order to identify, target and shut down illegal sources of firearms in Sacramento, local law enforcement and the public need accurate information about the source of guns. Until 2003, local law enforcement agencies could use data in the federal government's Firearms Trace System Database from crime guns to detect patterns in crime gun purchases.

For example, police could find out which dealers most frequently sold guns used in crimes or which people most frequently bought guns used in crimes (a sign the buyer is trafficking guns and selling to criminals). Researchers, too, could use the data to track trends in gun violence.

But this abruptly stopped after Congress passed the Tiahrt Amendment in 2003, a last-minute rider to the appropriations bill sprung by the gun lobby. This amendment prevents local law enforcement from accessing gun trace data, except data on a particular gun recovered at a particular crime scene for a particular criminal investigation.

Congress needs to repeal the Tiahrt Amendment. The California Association of Chiefs of Police and the Nevada Sheriffs and Chiefs Association are among the many law enforcement groups that support repeal. A coalition of 225 mayors, which includes Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo and West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon, also supports repeal and is running full page ads (see www.MayorsAgainstIllegalGuns.org and www.ProtectPolice.org).

But things are going the wrong direction.

On June 28, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted with the gun lobby 19-10 not only to keep the Tiahrt Amendment but to add the Shelby Amendment, which mandates prison time for police officers who use federal gun trace data for anything except a specific crime investigation.

The House Appropriations Committee is scheduled to vote on the issue Thursday morning. Sacramentans should press House Appropriations Committee members, including Rep. John Doolittle, R-Rocklin, to repeal the Tiahrt Amendment. (Contact Doolittle's office by phone at (916) 786-5560 or by Web mail at doolittle.house.gov/email).

A second issue is the lack of uniform gun laws across the nation. While California has some of the strongest laws requiring background checks and record-keeping for both licensed dealers and private individuals who sell guns, states on our border have some of the weakest. This patchwork of laws makes Nevada and Arizona gun shows a convenient place for traffickers to buy firearms from unlicensed vendors. These undocumented "don't ask, don't tell" gun sales hamper crime gun tracing efforts by police.

A uniform national law on gun sales would help, and California's law should be the model. In this state, direct sales of guns between private parties are banned; they must be processed through a licensed seller (so a background check is done and a record is kept).

Congress should close the gun show loophole by requiring background checks and record-keeping for all gun sales, not just those by licensed federal dealers. Since 1994, President Bush has consistently supported the idea of background checks at gun shows.

If Congress doesn't act to give local communities such as Sacramento these basic tools to fight gun crime, you can thank the National Rifle Association and other gun lobby groups. A Nevada state senator is quoted in Sunday's story in The Bee as saying he hasn't heard any outcry from California yet. It's time for that outcry.