Access Restrictions on the Release of Gun Sales Data

Posted Oct 24, 2007 to Data Sharing by Nathan  /  2 responses

I just found this in my draft folder from a while back. It's kind of old news, but I think it's still worth mentioning.

Gun control advocates failed to gain local government and law enforcement agencies' access to gun sales data.

The House Appropriations Committee defeated two attempts by gun control advocates to strip four-year-old restrictions on the use of information from Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives tracing gun sales. The votes were a victory for the National Rifle Association and came despite the Democratic takeover of Congress in January.

One side argues that gun sales data will help law enforcement agencies track gun dealers who sell guns illegally. The other side argues that there's privacy at stake, and there's a chance that police officers' identities could be inferred. A big victory for gun rights advocates, or so the the article might suggest.

My opinion -- even if gun sales data were given to law enforcement, how could anyone guarantee data integrity? I think it's fair to say that dealers selling guns illegally aren't going to provide accurate reports. Sell a gun under the table with cash, don't report it, and the data doesn't reveal much. Am I missing something here?

Replies

2 responses to "Access Restrictions on the Release of Gun Sales Data"
  • Aron Pilhofer
    Oct 24, 2007, 6:39 am

    Yes, you’re missing a lot. This data used to be available not only to local governments, but also to the news media. It was used to report on things like — surplus guns sold by police departments used in crimes, gun dealers selling to felons, etc. I guess I believe these kinds of stories were important.


  • Nathan
    Oct 24, 2007, 9:04 am
    Author

    Oh, yeah, for sure. Those stories ARE important, but I guess I’m just a bit skeptical about how accurate that type of data is going to be.

    Surplus guns sold by police departments…I think I’d trust that data, but data that relies on gun dealers to fill out paperwork… how reliable is that data and how much under the table stuff is going on? I don’t know. Maybe I’ve just seen one too many crime dramas.


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