Baltimore sues ATF over gun data denied in public information request
Dec. 19—By Emily Opilo — eopilo@baltsun.com
PUBLISHED:December 19, 2023 at 2:39 p.m.| UPDATED:December 20, 2023 at 10:08 a.m.
Baltimore is suing the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, arguing the agency should release data to the city about the histories of guns used in crimes investigated by city police.
The lawsuit, filed alongside gun control advocates Everytown Law on Monday, challenges a decision made by the ATF to reject a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the city this fall for information including the top ten sources of guns used in crimes in Baltimore from 2018 to 2022.
The city also requested information about the average "time-to-crime" statistics for guns recovered in connection with city homicides, suicides and other instances. Time-to-crime is the time that elapses between when a gun is legally purchased and when it is used in a crime.
While the Baltimore Police Department currently receives such information from the ATF, the department is prohibited from sharing the information with the mayor or city council members.
Mayor Brandon Scott argued Tuesday that his office needs that information to target gun dealers whose weapons are most frequently used in city crimes. If only a few stores are selling the most guns used in city crimes and those guns are moving quickly from sale to their use in a crime, those are red flags, Scott and members of his administration argued.
"We have to use common sense, and if it's the same stores and the same buyers over and over again, no one is that unlucky," said Scott, a Democrat, during a City Hall news conference.
The city's request for the information it sought from the ATF was denied on the basis of the Tiahrt rider, which the ATF said prevented it from releasing information about a firearms trace to anyone other than law enforcement or a prosecutor involved in a particular criminal case. Information for all guns used in city crimes is turned over to the ATF for tracing to determine the original manufacturer, seller and buyer. That information is provided to the Baltimore Police Department.
In its lawsuit, Baltimore is arguing that the rider was applied in an overly broad manner.
Alla Lefkowitz, senior director of affirmative litigation at Everytown Law, said an exemption exists for aggregated data, which is what the city requested.
"Studies have shown that gun stores that sell the most crime guns are also the gun stores that unsurprisingly are violating laws," Lefkowitz said. "These are the stores that choose to look the other way in the face of an illegal straw sale."
Straw sales, when a gun's buyer lies to a gun store about who the gun is for, already are illegal in Maryland. Scott said Baltimore Police, which has the ATF data, can and does investigate straw purchases.
But the city could go further if the mayor's office was allowed to have the information, Scott argued. Baltimore's law office could file civil lawsuits against gun stores or gun manufacturers, something the police department cannot do, he said.
"We're pursuing every action," Scott said, when asked what the information would enable the city to do.
Everytown Law, which is affiliated with Everytown for Gun Safety, has filed past lawsuits challenging the Tiahrt rider. In December 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit sided with the ATF in its denial of similar information. The Baltimore lawsuit is the first time in 20 years that a municipality has filed a lawsuit challenging the rider, Scott said.
An ATF spokesperson said the bureau does not comment on pending litigation.
Scott, who is seeking reelection in 2024, often cites the city's partnerships with other government organizations including the ATF for successes in the city's crime fight. Asked how he will maintain a partnership with the bureau while actively suing them, Scott said the ATF was aware that the lawsuit was coming.
"We know that if they were allowed to, I don't think that our partners would not give us this information," he said. "This is not solely about the ATF. This is about those who would rein them in to congressional hearings for sharing information."
"We're going to continue to work with our great ATF partners," he added.
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