Dumb laws
On a new bill aimed (and misfiring) at gun trafficking:
“This legislation will actually create a new federal crime of gun trafficking, make it a federal crime and give federal authorities the power, which they need, to go after gun traffickers,” King explained. “It would also make it a new crime for criminals to use stolen firearms [or those] which have [obliterated] serial numbers.”
Err, it’s already illegal to use stolen firearms and illegal to obliterate serial numbers. More stupidity:
Chief Mary Ann Viverette of the Gaithersburg, Md., Police Department also spoke at the event, representing the International Association of Chiefs of Police, of which she is also president. Viverette briefly praised the anti-trafficking bill, but then attacked another piece of legislation — the Firearms Corrections and Improvements Act (H.R. 5005).
“H.R. 5005 would make our job more difficult by severely limiting the ability of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to share tracing information with state and local law enforcement agencies,” Viverette claimed. “This legislation clearly has the potential to severely impede the investigation of criminal activities.”
The problem, of course, is that HR 5005 does no such thing:
But, as Cybercast News Service previously reported, H.R. 5005 contains no prohibition against the ATF sharing gun trace data with state and local law enforcement agencies for use in criminal investigations or prosecutions. The bill does prohibit the agency from sharing the data with state or local governments’ civil attorneys for use in lawsuits or other administrative procedures against gun dealers
They have to lie to win.
