Gun Control Group Suing ATF Over Refusal to Release Gun Trace Data

A firearms industry representative criticized the lawsuit as an effort to reimplement a ‘name and shame smear campaign.’

Gun control advocates raise signs in the gallery of the Tennessee House chamber in Nashville, Tenn., on April 6, 2023. George Walker IV/AP Photo

The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence filed a lawsuit against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) on June 4, over the ATF’s withholding of trace data in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

The information is part of the ATF’s Demand Letter 2 (DL2) program. Under this program, guns that are connected to a crime within three years of their initial sale are considered to have a short “time-to-crime.”