* Forwarded (from: PA-RKBA) by Roy J. Tellason using timEd 1.10.y2k.
* Originally from worksntv{at}aol.com (1:270/615.77) to All.
* Original dated: Tue Nov 12, 12:32

From: worksntv{at}aol.com
Subject: PA-RKBA! High Court to Hear Gun Privacy Case

By GINA HOLLAND
.c The Associated Press 

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court plunged into the gun debate Tuesday,
agreeing to decide whether the government can withhold information on some
gun purchases and crimes, including details of database checks like those
used to track weapons in the sniper case.

The Bush administration, backed by the National Rifle Association and a
police group, claims that confidential records are needed to safeguard
investigations and protect people's privacy.

Critics say the administration's policy keeps the public in the dark about
gun violence and how well crime-fighters are doing.

At issue for the Supreme Court is the scope of a federal public information
law, which allows reporters and other outsiders to get unclassified
government records that officials would not otherwise release.

The court will decide if the release of the data could interfere with law
enforcement efforts, which would exempt it from the sunshine law.

On the line is access to information on about 200,000 firearm traces a
year, when officers confiscate a weapon in a crime then track down who made
it, sold it and bought it.

The government releases some information now - after a time lapse - but
erases the names of the gun maker, the seller, the buyer, and where the gun
was used in crime, the Supreme Court was told.

The information is kept by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

Gun control advocates have criticized the ATF's regulation of the more than
100,000 licensed firearms dealers.

In the recent sniper case, the ATF is trying to find out how a rifle police
believe was used in the sniper attacks vanished from a Washington state gun
shop without a paper trail. Some senators have demanded more information
about past investigations of the dealer.

The city of Chicago, which is suing the gun industry, filed suit to obtain
the information under the Freedom of Information Act. Chicago is trying to
recover money for gun violence. It claims marketing practices led to
lawbreaking.

President Bush has opposed city lawsuits against the gun industry.

Also involved in the court's considerations will be information about
people who bought multiple weapons, which is kept in another ATF database.
The government refuses to reveal names from that database as well.

``There is simply no reasonable expectation of privacy involved in the
purchase of firearms. And the recovery of a firearm by the authorities in
the course of a criminal investigation is even less private,'' the Supreme
Court was told by Lawrence Rosenthal, Chicago's attorney.

Solicitor General Theodore Olson, in his filings, said the ATF has
reasonable policies designed to balance privacy with security. He said the
appeals court decision ``would significantly intrude upon the privacy of
hundreds of thousands of individuals - including firearms purchasers,
potential witnesses to crime, and others - without meaningfully assisting
the public to evaluate the conduct of the federal government.''

ATF has varying rules for releasing information. Some is released after one
year, some after two and some after five years. And some details, like
names, are never made available.

NRA lawyer Stephen Halbrook said if the Supreme Court does not stop the
release of the information, gun owners' privacy will be violated.

``The city of Chicago wants all the names and addresses of people who have
bought firearms,'' Halbrook said. ``There's no public interest in knowing
that any more than knowing the amount of income you make, that's between
you and the IRS.''

Larry H. James, representing the 300,000-member Fraternal Order of Police,
said: ``This case not just about the release of data information, it is
about the actual lives'' of officers.

``Significant interference with their work, and a threat to their very
lives, is squarely presented in this case,'' he wrote in urging the court
to review the case.

The case is United States Department of the Treasury v. City of Chicago, 02-322.


11/12/02 12:05 EST

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]


"Our Rights are not what's wrong in Pennsylvania"

The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania guarantees your right
to bear arms in Article 1 Section 21: "The right of Citizens to bear
arms in defense of themselves and the State shall not be questioned."

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