Gun control group sues ATF for suicide data

By Daniel Terrill

Gun control group Everytown for Gun Safety has asked a New York federal court to force the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to release information about firearm suicides. Everytown said ATF refused its request via a 2016 Freedom of Information Act Request for the data by claiming federal law shields such information from public view, according to the complaint filed March 15.
The lawsuit called attention to the Tiahrt amendment, a rider attached to the federal spending bill that prohibits ATF from releasing trace data on firearm purchases except on crime guns and statistics on the U.S. firearms industry. However, Everytown argued the measure is a NRA-supported effort to purposefully limit public information on gun crime and violence. “The data we’re seeking is a potentially important missing piece for public health experts studying gun suicides, and we’ll do what it takes to make this important data public,” said Eric Tirschwell, Everytown’s litigation director, in a statement.
The lawsuit also raised awareness of gun suicides, which account for two-thirds of all gun deaths. Everytown said an average of 21,000 Americans committed suicide using a firearm between 2012 and 2016. Citing published research, the group said about 85-90 percent of people attempting

Source: Guns.com