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Dear Mayor Bloomberg:
The
National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the trade association
for the shooting, hunting and firearms industry, applauds your co-hosting
with Boston Mayor Menino a national summit on illegal guns. All
Americans share the goal of further reducing the criminal misuse
of firearms by keeping guns out of the hands of violent criminals. In
fact, in dismissing
its lawsuit against members of our industry the
City of Boston acknowledged "that
members of the industry and [NSSF] are genuinely concerned with and
are committed to the safe, legal and responsible sale and distribution
and use of their products."
We would welcome the opportunity to attend the summit to contribute
the firearms industry's unique perspective to this important
public policy discussion and to educate you and your fellow mayors
about some important programs of the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation and the members of the
firearms industry are proud of our long-standing cooperative relationship
with the law enforcement community, especially the federal Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). One example
is our Don't Lie for the Other Guy illegal "straw
purchase" prevention and awareness program. Through this
national program NSSF is able to assist ATF to better educate and
train federally licensed firearms retailers on how to recognize and
deter illegal "straw purchases" of firearms and through
public service announcements to make the general public aware that
it is a serious crime to "straw purchase" a firearm for
someone else. ATF Director Carl J.
Truscott has praised
the Don't
Lie for the Other Guy as a great success and called it "an
important tool for ATF as we pursue our mission of preventing terrorism,
reducing violent crime, and protecting the public through Project
Safe Neighborhoods and other initiatives." Developed
jointly by NSSF and ATF and co-funded by a U.S. Department of Justice
grant and members of the firearms industry, the program is a component
of the U.S. Department of Justice's Project Safe Neighborhood.
NSSF has long supported the aggressive enforcement of our nation's
firearms laws as the best way to further reduce the criminal misuse
of firearms. Federally licensed firearms dealers play an important
role in aiding law enforcement by carefully following the law. As
you noted in your recent
congressional testimony, most members of
the firearms industry are law abiding. Paradoxically, in your
ongoing federal lawsuit against our industry you accuse those
same companies—Smith & Wesson, Colt's, Sturm, Ruger,
Browning, Glock, Inc. and Beretta U.S.A. Corp., among others—of
criminality.
Any corrupt federal firearms licensee engaging in illegal firearms
trafficking should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. It
is noteworthy that the recently enacted Protection
of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (Pub. L. 109-92) affords
no protection to a corrupt firearms dealer.
We are deeply concerned, however, based on your recent congressional
testimony and earlier
state-of-the-city address, that this summit
will encourage lawsuits against federal firearms licensees merely
because they may have sold firearms later recovered by law enforcement
and traced by ATF. In your congressional testimony you asserted,
in effect, that every firearm traced was the consequence of a "bad" sale
by the dealer. We categorically reject that assertion as demonstrably
false.
We would welcome the opportunity at the summit to educate you and
your fellow mayors on the general subject of tracing recovered firearms
by ATF. The mere fact that a trace has occurred does not mean
that anyone in the chain of commerce has done anything wrong. In
fact, "ATF
emphasizes that the appearance of [a licensed dealer] or a first
unlicensed purchaser of record in association with a crime gun or
in association with multiple crime guns in no way suggests that either
the FFL or the first purchaser has committed criminal acts. Rather,
such information may provide a starting point for further and more
detailed investigation" (Crime
Gun Trace Analysis Reports: The Illegal Youth Firearms Market
in 27 Communities, 1998 Youth
Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative,
at 17 (emphasis original)). "A
crime gun trace alone does not mean that an FFL or a firearm purchaser
has committed an unlawful act. Crime gun trace information is used
in combination with other investigative facts in regulatory and criminal
enforcement." Crime Gun Trace Reports (1999), National Report,
Youth
Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative, November 2000, Introduction at
4.
When in 2003 the Brady Campaign to Stop Gun Violence issued a list
of so-called "Bad Apple" gun dealers based solely on the
number of trace requests, ATF in a press
release called it "misleading," stating, "There
is no dispute that one corrupt dealer is one too many. But
the statistics cited do not provide a complete picture of the types
of activities that might warrant federal gun prosecutions. Gun
traces, for example, indicate only that a gun has come to the attention
of law enforcement. They do not automatically implicate a dealer
or purchaser in any wrongdoing."
The National Shooting Sports Foundation is the leader in developing
firearms safety programs. We would welcome the opportunity
to educate summit attendees about a number of these programs.
Firearms-related accidents have declined sharply even
as gun ownership in America is rising. More than half of all households
now own firearms, yet accidental fatalities are at an all-time low—down
48 percent from 1994 through 2004, according to the National Safety
Council. Firearm
safety is no accident. For decades, the firearms industry has
emphasized education to ensure the safe and responsible use of its
products. Some 40 million people of all ages safely participate
in the shooting sports.
Our Project ChildSafe is
the largest and most comprehensive firearms safety education program
in the nation. Developed
by the National Shooting Sports Foundation and funded by U.S. Department
of Justice grants and the firearms industry, we have distributed
nationally over 30 million free safety kits that include a cable-style
firearm locking device and key safety messages about safe handling
and storage of firearms. Project ChildSafe has provided
the New York City Patrolmen's Benevolent Association with firearm
safety kits for its thousands of members.
NSSF's
programs also address the safety concern of a child or other unauthorized
user encountering a firearm in an unsupervised situation through
educational video programs appropriate
for school safety curriculums. A general-audience program is also
available that provides a review of safety rules for firearms owners. Firearms
manufacturers have for many years been providing free locking devices
with each new firearm shipped.
We believe that our common goals of further reducing the criminal
misuse of firearms and continuing the decline in firearm accidents
can best be achieved through mutual cooperation and communication
with our industry. We hope that we can put aside our differences
for at least one day and that you will allow the National Shooting
Sports Foundation to attend the national summit on illegal guns so
that we can contribute our industry's unique perspective on
this issue and that we can begin a constructive dialogue.
Sincerely,
Lawrence
G. Keane
LGK/mas
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