[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 4 (Friday, January 23, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S216]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page S216]]
          SELLING CRIME: HIGH CRIME GUN STORES FUEL CRIMINALS

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, last week, Americans for Gun Safety, AGS, 
published a report entitled ``Selling Crime: High Crime Gun Stores Fuel 
Criminals.'' This report identifies gun stores around the country that 
sell the most guns used in crimes.
  Federal law requires gun stores to be licensed to sell firearms by 
the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, ATF. However, 
according to Americans for Gun Safety, until recently, the ATF had 
never released information on the number of crime guns traced back to 
gun stores. AGS acquired all of its data via Freedom of Information Act 
requests. The data reveals some troubling facts. According to the 
report, 96 of the 120 dealers named in the report remain open, and only 
24 have been inspected by federal agents during the past 3\1/2\ years. 
When inspected, 18 of these 24 dealers were cited for at least one 
violation of federal gun laws and seven high crime dealers were cited 
more than five times.
  The AGS study focuses attention on negligent and irresponsible gun 
dealers. However, language included in the Fiscal Year 2004 Omnibus 
Appropriations bill will make it impossible for this data on such 
dealers to be made available to the public in the future. Language 
included in the omnibus specifically prohibits the release of 
information related to tracing requests on guns used in crimes.
  And that is not the only problem. Even more importantly, language in 
the bill mandates that the Justice Department destroy background check 
records for the purchase of guns within 24 hours of the gun purchase. 
Under current regulations, the ATF can retain the records from gun 
purchases for up to 90 days. This 90-day period gives law enforcement 
the opportunity to review and audit gun purchase records for illegal 
activity and problems with the background check system. The provision 
requiring the destruction of records within 24 hours was inserted into 
the bill without a debate or discussion of its potential impact. It is 
incomprehensible that, at a time when we are in a heightened state of 
alert to guard against terrorism, we are not providing law enforcement 
with more than 24 hours to examine information on weapons purchases.
  The gun provisions in the omnibus were never the subject of Senate 
hearings and are not supported by major law enforcement organizations. 
They undermine the efforts of the ATF to meet its responsibilities, 
weaken the public's right to know, and make it more difficult for other 
law enforcement agencies to do their job.

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