Brady Campaign: Sponsor Of Restrictions On Use Of Crime Gun Data Attacks Police Leaders
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JULY 25, 2007
9:08 AM
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CONTACT: Brady Campaign
Communications:
(202) 898-0792
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Sponsor Of Restrictions On Use Of Crime Gun Data Attacks Police Leaders
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WASHINGTON - JULY 25 - In a recent letter to the editor and in an interview in the new issue of a gun industry magazine, Representative Todd Tiahrt (R-KS) slams major national law enforcement groups which oppose legislation he wrote restricting the use of crime gun trace data, calling them “pseudo police organizations” in the industry magazine and “puppet police organizations” in the newspaper.
“Some of them,” Tiahrt adds in the August issue of the National Rifle Association’s First Freeedom magazine, “are just websites.” On July 22, 2007, Tiahrt had a letter published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette newspaper saying the groups are puppets of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who helped form a coalition of mayors that oppose the legislation.
The comments are published just after the National Law Enforcement Memorial Foundation issued an alert showing that homicides of police officers are up 44 percent this year and just before the ninth anniversary of the day nine years ago (July 24, 1998) when a tormented man went on a shooting rampage at the U.S. Capitol, killing two Capitol policemen. The appropriations bill containing the Tiahrt restrictions is expected to come before the U.S. House this week.
The groups Congressman Tiahrt referred to include:
- The International Association of Chiefs of Police. This group was founded in 1893 and has over 20,000 members in over 89 different countries. The IACP has been instrumental in supporting law enforcement technologies and philosophies, from spearheading national use of fingerprint identification to partnering in a consortium on community policing to gathering top experts in criminal justice, the government and education for summits on violence, homicide, and youth violence.
- The National Sheriffs’ Association. This group, chartered in 1940, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising the level of professionalism among sheriffs and their deputies. It has more than 21,000 members. NSA provides to sheriffs and other criminal justice practitioners resources, technical assistance, opportunities for professional development, information and congressional advocacy.
- The International Brotherhood of Police Officers. This is an AFL-CIO affiliate representing rank and file police across the U.S..
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette letter can be read on the Post-Gazette's website. To read the NRA magazine First Freedom article, visit the Brady Campaign's website. (The issue containing the Tiahrt interview also includes such other articles as a column urging opposition to a proposal to let the Attorney General block gun sales to suspected terrorists; excerpts from a speech by the head of the organization likening supporters of gun laws to “Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, Slobodan Milosovich [and] Saddam Hussein;” and an article criticizing actor and hunter Kevin Costner for supporting stronger gun laws.)
“It is unfortunate to see an elected official attacking these well-respected law enforcement organizations,” said Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. “Congressman Tiahrt first said his bill was written ‘to protect those who protect us.’ Then, after the leaders of 11 national and 21 state and regional police groups announced that they oppose his bill, he has chosen to try to marginalize and demean them instead.”
The law enforcement groups oppose the Tiahrt restrictions contained in a Justice Department spending bill that blocks virtually all law enforcement access to data relevant to pro-active crime fighting by showing the sources of guns linked to crimes. The other national groups opposing the restrictions are the Major Cities Chiefs Association; Police Executive Research Forum; Police Foundation; Hispanic American Police Command Officers Association (HAPCOA); National Black Police Association; National Latino Peace Officers Association; National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives and the School Safety Advocacy Council. Twenty state organizations and one regional organization and more than 200 individual police chiefs oppose it as well.# # #
For continuing insight and comment on the gun issue, read Paul Helmke's blog at www.bradycampaign.org/blog, and visit the Brady Campaign website at www.bradycampaign.org.
As the nation's largest, non-partisan, grassroots organization leading the fight to prevent gun violence, the Brady Campaign, working with its dedicated network of Million Mom March Chapters, is devoted to creating an America free from gun violence, where all Americans are safe at home, at school, at work, and in our communities.
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