Opportunities for courage on gun violence

IT'S THE FIRST week of summer. As heat and humidity rise, gun deaths and injuries continue to climb in Philly, Camden, Reading, York, Harrisburg and elsewhere. Police and community organizers worry that summer's heat will fuel the fire.

Two critical opportunities have arisen during this portentous week for local legislators to step up, show some courage and act to lower the flame of gun violence.

Sadly, one such opportunity was missed on Tuesday, as Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee Chairman Thomas Caltagirone (D-Berks) pulled a bill requiring the reporting to police of lost or stolen firearms. This is a sensible, moderate and popular measure designed to put obstacles in the way of straw purchasing, the linchpin of the illegal trade that puts handguns in the pockets of thugs, violent teens and children.

But, HB 29 was too much for the gun lobby and its patrons in the gun industry, as it would likely cut into that illegal handgun trade, meaning fewer sales and lower profits for gun makers.

So, the gun lobby put pressure on Caltagirone, and he folded, muttering drivel about HB 29 being "premature." Tell that to the families of gunshot victims who will die or be wounded while you fiddle, Mr. Caltagirone.

The other opportunity for a local legislator to show some courage will occur today, when the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee takes up funding for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) sits on the committee and, if he cares about his constituents' safety from gun violence more than he does the profit-driven motives of the gun lobby, he'll vote to strike a noxious rider know as the Tiahrt Amendment.

The gun lobby, working in 2003 through Kansas GOP Rep. Todd Tiahrt, gained approval of a rider that removed from public and media view all information derived from ATF's tracing of crime guns. It showed, in dramatic fashion, the flow of illegal guns, enabling police, municipal officials and legislators to develop and maintain effective public-safety policies and regulations.

Since '03, the gun lobby has succeeded in getting Congress to expand the Tiahrt Amendment's coverage so that ATF is prohibited from providing gun-trace information to anyone other than enforcement agencies, and then only for specific criminal cases. Accordingly, officials, organizations and the public who are involved in setting public-safety policies are denied information pertinent to said policies.

Why? Because the illegal handgun trade means business to the gun industry. If the public, media and officialdom learn how that trade works and the devastation it produces, then they might demand change to permanently disrupt the illegal gun business, that would reduce the number of handguns sold - and that would diminish profits.

Better to keep law enforcement, legislators, media and the public in the dark. Better to keep the Tiahrt Amendment in place.

Sen. Specter can help turn the gun-violence burner down today by rejecting the selfish blandishments of the pro-gun forces and voting to strike Tiahrt. He can show a little courage. *

Bryan Miller is executive director of Ceasefire NJ.