The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms’ (ATF) National Trace Center is our nation’s only firearms tracing facility. It provides gun ownership and trafficking information to law enforcement agencies and tracks the intrastate and international movement of firearms. The gun center does not get the actual guns, and tracers don’t search for fingerprints or do other forensic work. Instead, the tracers reach out to the manufacturer to try and find the retailer. From there, the gun tracers hope to get the name of the purchaser.

The 2004 Tiahrt Amendments is a law that drastically limits the ability of ATF and other law-enforcement agencies to use and disseminate trace data. Trace data is used to link guns found at crime scenes to manufacturers, dealers that originally sold the weapon, and the identity of the weapon’s owner. Tiahrt barred ATF from disclosing any trace data to the public, shielded trace data from subpoena in civil actions, and prohibited data from being admissible as evidence in legal proceedings. Gun safety advocates say this information is basic to analyzing gun crime data and trends. They say it could help police departments track down sellers of illegal guns and solve crimes. Gun group advocates say that repealing the Tiahrt Amendment would lead to a rash of lawsuits against gun dealers.

Pending Legislation: H.R.4223 - Gun Records Restoration and Preservation Act
Sponsor: Rep. Madeleine Dean (PA)
Status: House Committee on the Judiciary
Chair: Rep. Jim Jordan (OH)

• I oppose reforming current firearms reporting policy and wish to donate resources to the campaign committee of Speaker Mike Johnson (LA).
• I support repealing the Tiahrt Amendments which impede federal law enforcement's ability to track firearms by requiring the destruction of most background check records within 24 hours and prohibiting annual gun shop inventory audits by:
  
  1.) Ending the requirement that the FBI destroy approved gun purchaser records within 24 hours which would help law enforcement track firearm purchases and prevent gun trafficking.
  
  2.) Eliminating restrictions on the ATF's ability to release firearm trace data to researchers, the public, and cities. This data is used to identify the source of guns used in crimes.
  
  3.) Removing the prohibition on consolidating or centralizing records that gun dealers are required to maintain, allowing the Department of Justice to centralize these records, which could facilitate more efficient and accurate tracking of firearms.
  
  4.) Authorizing the ATF to require federal firearms licensees (FFLs), or gun shops, to conduct annual physical checks of their inventory. It would also allow the ATF to obtain those inventories to help detect gun thefts.
  
  And wish to donate resources to the campaign committee of Rep. Jim Jordan (OH)and/or to an advocate group currently working with this issue.