[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 3]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 4402-4403]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




INTRODUCTION OF THE TERRORIST APPREHENSION RECORD RETENTION ACT OF 2005

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 10, 2005

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing the bipartisan 
``Terrorist Apprehension Record Retention Act of 2005'' or ``TARR 
Act,'' legislation designed to make it much easier for State and 
Federal counterterrorism officials to track known or suspected members 
of a terrorist organization who attempt to purchase dangerous firearms 
here in the U.S. I am joined by Representative Christopher Shays of 
Connecticut.
  According to a recently released Government Accountability Office 
(``GAO'') report, over the course of a nine-month span last year, a 
total of fifty-six (56) firearm purchase attempts were made by 
individuals designated as known or suspected terrorists by the Federal 
Government. In forty-seven (47) of those cases, State and Federal 
authorities were forced to permit such transactions to proceed because 
officials were unable to find any disqualifying information (such as a 
prior felony conviction or court-determined `mental defect') in the 
individual applicant's background. Under current law, neither suspected 
nor actual membership in a terrorist organization is a sufficient 
ground, in and of itself, to prevent such a purchase from taking place.
  Even more troubling than this apparent loophole in our current system 
of gun laws is the confusion which ensued after such transactions 
occurred. The GAO specifically determined that, in such instances, the 
Department of Justice's information-sharing procedures failed to 
adequately ``address the specific types of information from NICS 
transactions that can or should be provided to Federal counterterrorism 
officials or the sources from which such information can be obtained.''
  The TARR Act seeks to correct this problem by making two simple, yet 
important, changes in current law. First, the bill would require all 
information regarding such transactions to be

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shared with all appropriate counterterrorism officials at the State and 
Federal level. Secondly, it would impose a ten year retention 
requirement on any records related to those transactions. In sum, the 
bill proposes two modest changes which--in the long run--will go along 
way towards keeping our homeland truly secure.
  I am hopeful that Congress can move quickly to enact this worthwhile 
and timely legislation.

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