Chucky Schumer, Gillibrand Call on Obama to Remove Tiahrt Amendments from 2010 Budget

Last Friday, New York U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles "Chucky" Schumer called on President Obama to keep the Tiahrt Amendments out of the FY 2010 Federal Budget, which is expected to be released in the coming weeks.

Specifically, Gillibrand and Schumer are urging the President to reinstate a 90-day retention period that existed before the current 24-hour period was implemented by the Bush Administration in 2004. They are also calling on Obama to end a provision that they say restricts states and localities from having full access to aggregated trace data.

Schumer and Gillibrand (who has supported Tiahrt in the past) are not being honest. Neither the congressional language nor ATF rules prohibit the sharing of trace data with law enforcement conducting criminal investigations, or place any restrictions on the sharing of trace data with other jurisdictions once it is in the hands of state or local law enforcement.

The President signaled last week during his joint press conference with Mexican President Calderon that repealing the Tiahrt Amendment related to trace data would be more doable at this time than reinstating the ban on semi-automatic rifles. It is also one of the priorities listed on the White House Agenda website under the heading Urban Policy -Crime and Law Enforcement.

The fact is the only people affected by the Tiahrt Amendment are big city mayors who want to go on a fishing expedition using the trace data to sure gun manufacturers and dealers out of business. NRA News host Cam Edwards gave a great explanation of the Tiahrt Amendment recently.