Prometheus 6

By collecting and analyzing our own data, the New York Police Department has developed increasingly sophisticated methods of identifying patterns and trends for assaults, robberies, drug sales, shootings and every other type of crime. Yet Congress prevents us from seeing the national data that would allow us to crack down on the No. 1 public safety threat facing our officers and the American public: illegal gun-trafficking rings.

Washington’s Secret Gun Files
By RAYMOND W. KELLY

A NARROWLY divided Congress will vote in the coming days on whether to renew legislation that stops the federal government from sharing with local police departments and prosecutors crucial information about guns used in crimes. The Tiahrt amendment, first passed in 2003, prohibits Washington from releasing crime data about guns that used to be provided to state and local law enforcement. If House members reauthorize the measure, they will harm efforts to curtail gun violence in this country.