Tiahrt Amendment Facts
The “Tiahrt Amendment” is named for its original sponsor, U.S. Representative Todd Tiahrt (R-KS). The Tiahrt Amendment is a provision that members of Congress have tucked into federal spending bills that restricts cities and police from accessing and using Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) trace data from guns recovered in crimes.
Gun trace data helps police figure out where illegal guns are coming from, who buys them and how they get trafficked into their communities.
- No access to a city’s own aggregate crime gun data.
The Tiahrt Amendment restricts local governments from accessing the ATF gun trace data they need in order to understand and address citywide and regional gun crime trends. - No access to data from other cities and states.
The Tiahrt Amendment prevents local governments and police from accessing ATF gun trace data from areas outside its geographic jurisdiction, greatly undermining regional efforts to control gun crime. - No access to or use of gun trace data for efforts to hold accountable dealers that break the law.
The Tiahrt Amendment blocks trace data from being used as evidence in any state or local civil action—even a gun dealer license revocation. - No access to national ATF reports.
The Tiahrt Amendment stops ATF from publishing reports that use gun trace data to analyze nationwide gun trafficking patterns.
The Tiahrt Restrictions: An Example
For example, in February 2007, ATF denied Jersey City, NJ’s request for all “trace data for all firearms involved in crimes in Jersey City” between 2001 and 2006. In a letter, ATF explained that “unfortunately” it is unable to provide the data because of “a Congressional appropriations restriction.”
Links:
Download the full text of the current Tiahrt Amendment (PDF).
