High Court to Hear Gun Privacy Case

By Gina Holland
Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, November 12, 2002; 5:56 PM

WASHINGTON –– The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to decide whether the government can continue withholding names of gun shops and gun owners whose weapons were used in crimes, such as the rifle used in the Washington-area sniper shootings.

Proponents say publicizing the records would inform the public whether only a few gun dealers are responsible for selling weapons often found at crime sites.

The Bush administration, backed by the National Rifle Association and the 300,000-member Fraternal Order of Police, contends such information should be confidential to protect gun owners' privacy and crime investigations.

At issue is how much information should be released about the 200,000 firearm traces conducted annually, in which police obtain weapons used in crimes, then determine who made it, sold it and bought it. [red]The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, which maintains the database,[/red] releases the make, model and serial numbers of the guns after a waiting period, but it does not identify the weapon's buyers and sellers.

[red]Also involved in the court's considerations will be another ATF database that tracks people who buy several guns in a week.[/red] The government also refuses to identify those buyers.

Dealers must keep records of the people they sell weapons to, but the forms are not part of the lawsuit and are not public.

In the sniper case, the ATF is trying to learn how a rifle linked by police to the shootings vanished from a Tacoma, Wash., gun shop without a paper trail. The shop is missing paperwork on hundreds of other guns as well.

"The entire community has an interest in knowing what in the world is going on in that gun shop," said Dennis Henigan, legal director of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which is affiliated with the Brady Campaign, an advocacy group supporting stronger gun laws. "Those weapons could be used to kill innocent people all across the nation."

Chicago, one of the municipalities suing the gun industry for damages related to gun violence, filed suit to obtain the information under the Freedom of Information Act. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the city, but the Bush administration appealed to the Supreme Court.

President Bush has opposed the municipal lawsuits. He and the Republican Party have received strong support from the NRA, which gave more than $1.6 million to federal candidates and political parties for the 2000 elections – 92 percent of it to the GOP, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a research group.

Solicitor General Theodore Olson argued in his filings that 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."

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."

Chicago officials argued in their court filings that they were entitled to some information.

"There is simply no reasonable expectation of privacy involved in the purchase of firearms," said the city's lawyer, Lawrence Rosenthal. "And the recovery of a firearm by the authorities in the course of a criminal investigation is even less private."

The case is U.S. Department of the Treasury v. City of Chicago, 02-322.