[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 14]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 20151]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE TIAHRT AMENDMENT VOTE

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 23, 2007

  Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, I rise today to respond to the 
Appropriations Committee vote on amending the Tiahrt amendment.
  Sadly, last week the House Appropriations Committee voted 26 to 40 on 
an amendment offered by Congressman Patrick Kennedy that would have 
addressed the current restrictions on the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and 
Firearms with sharing gun trace data. The limitation, known as the 
Tiahrt amendment, which prohibits the effective tracing of the 
ownership of weapons, puts handcuffs on illegal gun investigators all 
over the country. This vote was extremely disappointing. It was a 
rebuff to all Americans, who desperately want guns out of the hands of 
criminals. Once again law abiding Americans were victimized by the 
political pressure of National Rifle Association lobbyists.
  Proponents of the Tiahrt amendment argue that removing the 
restriction is a challenge to the Second Amendment. This is just not 
true; the Second Amendment right to bear arms is not affected by a more 
effective means of identifying illegal guns. I support removing the 
restriction and I also support the rights of legal gun ownership; the 
key word being legal.
  Tiahrt amendment supporters stress that there are privacy issues 
involved. That is absolutely true. The privacy of illegal gun dealers 
is being protected. This means they can continue to sell weapons to 
criminals and Americans will continue to be hurt and killed every 
single day as Congress sits back and watches.

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