The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, led by former Representative Gabby Giffords, filed a lawsuit against the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) because it didn’t hand over documents related to the communication between administration officials and the National Rifle Association (NRA). The documents, according to The Huffington Post, could show the association’s influence over President Donald Trump’s gun policies.
The lawsuit was filed to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Tuesday. According to the group, ATF didn’t want to respond to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for document related to the communication.
“Defendant has failed to respond to two of Plaintiff’s requests that reveal: (1) whether officials from ATF spoke to, or were otherwise influenced by, individuals affiliated with the Washington gun lobby in the period immediately following the mass shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 1, 2017; and (2) the extend to which the Washington gun lobby’s influence has caused ATF to purse dangerous policies and to oppose common sense gun-violence-prevention measures,” the group has written in the lawsuit.
The group adds that the records they are seeking are very important for the public and that the policy choices made by the administration and its public response to prominent instances of gun violence mirrors the views and communications strategies that the Washington gun lobby prefers.
“It appears that the Administration is coordinating with, or taking direction from, the Washington gun lobby in responding to mass shootings. Plaintiff brings this action to determine whether and to what extent, this apparent coordination has been accomplished through communications with officials at ATF, “ the lawsuit reads.
According to a The New York Times tracker, this year in the U.S. there have been 307 mass shootings and there are multiple accusations that the Congress and the president haven’t taken any real action to respond to that.
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