The Tiahrt Amendment
How do guns get to Rochester?
In many cases they are purchased en masse, and illegally, in states like Virginia with lax firearms laws. Black-market gun dealers drive them to NY, where they are sold on the streets. They’re used to shoot, and sometimes to kill, the people of our city. People like Adam Emling, and 26 others in Rochester this year.
Since the ATF and the FBI refuse to investigate the flow of illegal guns, the mayors and police chiefs from over 200 cities were trying to do the job without federal help. For example, the NYC police dept was using trace data to identify dirty gun store owners, and to file civil suits against them.
The big-city mayors and police chiefs know what the problem is, they see the bloodshed and the bodies. They know where these guns are coming from. They’re trying to shut down a very small handful of rogue gun store owners who repeatedly break the law and sell dozens of handguns to smugglers.
Unfortunately for us in Rochester, and for residents of other cities, the NRA didn’t like this idea. They pulled their strings, and the puppets danced. The House Appropriations Committee voted to keep in place rigid restrictions on the use of trace data.
They’re targeting us, Rochester. Our young men are dying so that right-wing gun nuts can have their “freedom”.
The truly sad part? More than a dozen Democrats voted for it. Anyone know our local reps positions on this?
[...] it’s illegal for them to do so, (interpretations of the Tiahrt Amendment vary,) then the city should turn the information over to the [...]