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Local police forces last year asked the ATF for help investigating whether an estimated 284,000 weapons were legally sold, officials said Monday.
But Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Director Michael J. Sullivan said he's worried that fewer police departments will request assistance because of new legislation barring public release of so-called gun trace data, which tracks gun sales in specific cases.
"My biggest concern is we have law enforcement departments out there that believe that they can't get access to trace information, so they're not even asking for it," Sullivan told reporters at ATF headquarters. "And it's undermining their ability to advance their investigations."
"There's little that I can think of that they've requested that we can't provide to them," Sullivan said.
To underscore the data's availability, the ATF released a state-by-state breakdown of requests for help in tracking down guns recovered at crime scenes, including by type of firearm and where they were sold.
The confusion stems from a provision in the Justice Department's spending plan for next year that prohibits ATF from releasing case-specific information to the public. . .
See the link for full story.
Local police forces last year asked the ATF for help investigating whether an estimated 284,000 weapons were legally sold, officials said Monday.
But Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Director Michael J. Sullivan said he's worried that fewer police departments will request assistance because of new legislation barring public release of so-called gun trace data, which tracks gun sales in specific cases.
"My biggest concern is we have law enforcement departments out there that believe that they can't get access to trace information, so they're not even asking for it," Sullivan told reporters at ATF headquarters. "And it's undermining their ability to advance their investigations."
"There's little that I can think of that they've requested that we can't provide to them," Sullivan said.
To underscore the data's availability, the ATF released a state-by-state breakdown of requests for help in tracking down guns recovered at crime scenes, including by type of firearm and where they were sold.
The confusion stems from a provision in the Justice Department's spending plan for next year that prohibits ATF from releasing case-specific information to the public. . .
See the link for full story.