Plan aims to curtail gun violence; Software, legislation and tip line.

Byline: Scott J. Croteau

WORCESTER - The Main South Alliance for Public Safety and District 4 City Councilor Barbara G. Haller are pushing a three-pronged program to track illegal weapons and curtail gun violence.

William T. Breault, chairman of the Main South Alliance for Public Safety, announced last week the creation of an anonymous tip line so residents can report gun activity. The tip line goes to the Main South Community Development Corp.

Mr. Breault and his organization are also pushing for local police departments to use software from a Seekonk-based computer software maker to better track weapons.

Finally, the community group that heads a program called "Where Did the Gun Come From?" is contacting legislators hoping to stop a federal law passed each year since 2003 that limits the tracking of weapons to law enforcement agencies.

"We want to stop the gun violence, and one way is to disrupt the trafficking," Ms. Haller said.

Both members of the Main South Alliance for Public Safety pointed to the disappearance more than 10 years ago of guns from Worcester manufacturing company Kahr Arms as a reason better gun tracking and public access to gun tracking is needed. One of the firearms that disappeared from Kahr Arms was later used in a fatal nightclub shooting.

Mr. Breault has met with several police chiefs and law enforcement organizations to discuss the use of the software created by James LaMonte, lead design engineer for Coloseum Software Corp., which developed the Advanced Inventory Management Intelligence program to track weapons. The software allows tracking of a weapon based on its parts, its make, model, caliber and color. Users of the software can even search for information based on a bullet's ballistic testing.

But Mr. Breault said public access to gun-tracking information will not occur while the Tiahrt Amendment, federal legislation restricting gun-tracking information to law enforcement officials, remains in place. The amendment prohibits the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which maintains the eTrace database, from releasing the information outside of law enforcement.

Each year since 2003 the legislation is an attachment to the Department of Justice spending bill.

Chuck Knapp, communications directors for U.S. Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Kansas, said the amendment is supported by the ATF.

"They support it and have requested its inclusion again this year," Mr. Knapp said. A vote for the Department of Justice budget is upcoming. "They believe it protects their ongoing criminal investigations and the lives of their undercover officers. There is really no reason for people other than the law enforcement community to have access to it."

Law enforcement has access to the database, and if a gun is used in a crime, the local police can receive information on the gun from the ATF, he said. A police organization's ability to inquire about a gun from another police organization is limited now, but language to change a portion of the amendment to allow that type of information to be passed among law enforcement entities has been added in one version.

"We continue to lobby our elected representatives to stop Tiahrt and implore all who understand that it is nearly impossible to effectively manage the problem of illegal weapons without tracing the movement of guns after purchase to join us," Mr. Breault said in a news release.

The Gun Tip Line, sponsored by the Main South Community Development Corp., can be reached at [phone]. People can leave their names and phone numbers for follow-up contact or remain anonymous. Information will be turned over to the Police Department when warranted.