Bloomberg Withholding Evidence

This link was posted at the GunBlog by XD45_NH.

The article is confusing in that they seem to pose this as a disagreement between LEO on jurisdiction.

More than three months after Mayor Bloomberg's announcement that he had sent private investigators into five states to catch gun dealers making illegal sales, he is refusing to turn over the evidence they've gathered to the federal agency that investigates illegal guns.

Analysts said the impasse may have slowed the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms in its investigation of and possible action against gun dealers that broke the law.

The city won't turn over the evidence, which includes videotapes of gun dealers allowing so-called straw purchases of guns, until the ATF signs an evidence-sharing agreement that would prohibit the agency from "publicly disclosing evidence without notice and consent from the city," the mayor's criminal justice coordinator, John Feinblatt, said.

The inability of the two sides to come to an agreement is due in part to what the ATF perceived as the mayor's infringement on its jurisdiction, analysts and law enforcement sources said.

Hello! The mayor and his cronies have broken the law. This has nothing to do with jurisdiction. The Mayor of NY has no jurisdiction in interstate law enforcement when they are the ones breaking the law. In fact this "investigation" was an independent sting operation attempting to produce evidence of wrong doing in a venue outside of the mayor's jurisdiction. As far as we know, the BATFE had no knowledge of these actions.

Because the investigators are private citizens, they would have broken the law if they actually made straw purchases or intentionally filled in incorrect information on the gun licensing forms. Also, some states have stringent rules about hidden video equipment. Law enforcement sources said it is unlikely the investigators would be prosecuted, but that the ATF was sending City Hall a message to stay off its turf.

A special agent with the ATF in New York, Joseph Green, said in a statement: "We have been in contact and working with the city and are awaiting all of the information they gathered so that we can evaluate it's content and, where necessary, forward the findings to the appropriate ATF and U.S. Attorney's Offices."

Mr. Green refused to say whether the ATF was investigating any of the gun dealers targeted by the mayor because it doesn't comment on open investigations.

Did they buy the guns or not? If they didn't then Bloomberg has no case for his lawsuits. If they did, they committed a felony and Bloomberg is an accomplice at least.

"Why would they have to sign some kind of agreement with the mayor of a locality?" a Second Amendment lawyer in Virginia, Steven Halbrook, said. "The feds don't have to sign an agreement if there's evidence of criminality. ... It demonstrates that Mayor Bloomberg lacks sincerity in this so-called crusade, because if he believes crimes have been committed, he would want them to take federal enforcement action."

Experts said an information sharing agreement is unnecessary because the ATF, like all law enforcement agencies, does not publicly disclose evidence about open investigations.

Something seriously stinks at the BATFE. The fact that the "investigation" is progressing at a glacial rate makes it clear that the BATFE is reticent to bring charges against the mayor and his crime spree. This federal agency has no need to reach any agreements on evidence. It should get off its dead ass and serve a subpoena for the information or start making arrests.

Again we are seeing that a politician is given special privileges that any average citizen would be denied. I'll make a prediction now, mayor Bloomberg won't see anything more than a stern private warning from the BATFE and the gun dealers that he's suing will get the shaft.