Lawmakers Block Access to Gun Sales Data

Law-enforcement personnel check guns that were removed from Elliot's Gun Shop in Jefferson, La., in this May 16, 2007, file photo. According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, on the outskirts of New Orleans, murderers-to-be armed themselves at Elliot's Gun Shop. Over the past five years, the store was the source of 2,300 weapons later linked to crime, including an astonishing 125 homicides. (AP Photo/Bill Haber, File) (Bill Haber - AP)

Almost three-fifths of guns used in crimes are sold by just 1 percent of gun dealers, who forge relationship with gun traffickers making multiple purchases.

Under Bloomberg, who recently left the GOP amid speculation he may run for president as an independent, the city has sued out-of-state gun dealers in an attempt to reduce the flow of illegal guns into New York. The NRA-backed restrictions block cities from getting ATF data for such suits.

The committee chairman, Rep. David Obey _ a liberal Democrat representing a rural Wisconsin district _ said the issue was only marginally related to gun rights. He opposed the efforts to ease the data restrictions.

But Obey lashed out at both the NRA, which failed to endorse him in his most recent race despite his pro-gun rights record, and Bloomberg. He said the mayor's representatives met with his staff and threatened to run television ads attacking him.

Lindsay Ellenbogen, a Bloomberg aide, denied any threats. Bloomberg is co-chairman of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which has run ads in a few congressional districts.

"As happens too often in Washington, common sense didn't carry the day _ special interests did," Bloomberg said.

Thursday's result continued a run of back luck on Capitol Hill for gun control advocates. They have lost many times since a Democratic-controlled Congress pushed through an assault weapons ban in 1994. Many Democrats credited the ban for losses in rural seats as the party took a drubbing at the polls that year.

The return of Congress to Democratic hands did not appreciably hurt the NRA's position because many of the newcomers are from rural, pro-gun rights districts.

"To allow this information to be misused by trial lawyers and gun control groups who want to sue gun manufacturers because criminals misused legally made and legally sold guns is not only bad policy but bad politics," said Chris W. Cox, the NRA's top lobbyist.

The votes came as the committee approved a $53.6 billion bill for the departments of Commerce and Justice, as well as NASA and science programs.

(This version CORRECTS the name of the group Mayors Against Illegal Guns.)