[iwar] [fc:Ashcroft.Blocks.FBI.Access.to.Gun.Records]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-12-07 22:49:31
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From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net>
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Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2001 22:49:31 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [iwar] [fc:Ashcroft.Blocks.FBI.Access.to.Gun.Records]
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Ashcroft Blocks FBI Access to Gun Records
Critics Call Attorney General's Decision Contradictory in Light of Terror
Probe Tactics 

By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 7, 2001; Page A26

The FBI will not be permitted to compare the names of suspected terrorists
against federal gun purchase records, Attorney General John D. Ashcroft told
the Senate yesterday, offering no encouragement to senators willing to
guarantee the FBI the authority to do so.

Defending his decision to block the FBI from using gun documents in its
terror probe, Ashcroft said the law does not allow investigators to review
the federal records created when a buyer applies to purchase a weapon at a
gun store.

Some critics charged that Ashcroft's strong opposition to gun control is
interfering with his role as the government's top cop. Democrats on the
Senate Judiciary Committee, accusing him of "handcuffing" the FBI, pressed
him unsuccessfully to say why he did not seek access to gun records when he
claimed expanded investigatory powers after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

When Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) asked Ashcroft whether he wants the
power to review gun records in the fight against terrorism, Ashcroft replied
that he would not comment on a "hypothetical."

Bush administration officials said information collected by gun stores for
use in background checks was not intended for other law enforcement
purposes. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the administration is
following a regulation signed in January by Attorney General Janet Reno, who
ruled that records can be used only to audit the background check system.

Such regulations are easily changed, countered Clinton administration
officials and other critics. They pointed out that Ashcroft has issued an
order permitting federal investigators to listen to attorney-client
conversations and sought to lengthen the time illegal immigrants can be held
before being charged. At his request, Congress has granted many other powers
in recent months.

"If their point is just that there's a regulation that prohibits this, there
is no doubt whatsoever that the attorney general could, on a moment's
notice, issue a revised regulation," said Randolph G. Moss, an assistant
attorney general under Reno.

The attorney general's decision to block the FBI's access to the records
runs counter to a Justice Department policy advisory issued in 1996. When
the FBI asked about access to the gun files, Deputy Assistant Attorney
General Richard L. Shiffrin wrote that the records could be used by law
enforcement agencies conducting investigations.

"This document underscores the Justice Department's authority to use the
[records] as a tool to combat terror," said former Justice lawyer Mathew
Nosanchuk, now at the National Violence Center, a Washington-based gun
control group. "Instead, they are rejecting their own authority and acting
as lawyers for the gun lobby. Their arguments are predictable gun lobby
arguments, but they are unfathomable law enforcement arguments."

Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday, Ashcroft was
criticized by Democrats for overstepping his authority and infringing civil
liberties. Then, when some of the same senators said he had not gone far
enough in using the gun records, Ashcroft balked.

"I don't want to hear two messages from this committee . . . that you want
me to enforce some laws and not other laws . . . or respect some rights and
not other rights," Ashcroft said.

Ashcroft is a strong supporter of the National Rifle Association who once
voted as a Missouri senator for the "immediate destruction" of the purchase
records of people who had been permitted to buy a gun. This year, he
proposed reducing the required time for preserving the records to 24 hours
from 90 days.

Justice spokeswoman Mindy Tucker said law enforcement authorities may
consult the records of buyers who have been disqualified from purchasing a
gun. She said the department believes that other customers' records, which
include addresses and gun store locations, are off-limits.

The FBI wants access to all records. An agent said yesterday that a record
of a gun purchase could give a time and place where a person had been, as
well as the prospective purchaser's possible address.

"This is a sticky one for us," the agent said. "The Justice Department sees
things differently than we do."

On Sept. 16, the FBI began checking a list of 186 people against the gun
records, an FBI spokesman said. The search yielded two matches, or "hits,"
meaning that the individuals had been approved to buy guns.

But the next day, Assistant Attorney General Viet Dinh ruled that continued
use of the records was prohibited by law. In October, the FBI sought to
check a smaller list of names against the gun purchase documents and was
again refused, the spokesman said.

Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Ashcroft's position was contradictory
and left him feeling "a little befuddled." Ashcroft had been "looking for
tools in every direction," Schumer said. But regarding questions about
illegal immigrants buying guns, "this administration becomes as weak as a
wet noodle."

A senior Justice official said neither the FBI nor criminal prosecutors
requested a specific change in the Brady gun control law or its underlying
regulations to allow the use of the purchase records.

"Nobody even suggested that this was a critical thing," the official said.
"There was no suggestion, no indication and no request that we pursue a
regulatory or legislative fix on this. There was no cry of hampering the
investigation."

Staff writer Dan Eggen and researcher Madonna Lebling contributed to this
report. 

© 2001 The Washington Post Company

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