Baltimore City suing ATF over improper denial of gun crime data

Baltimore City has filed a lawsuit against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), alleging that the agency improperly denied critical gun crime data, Mayor Brandon Scott announced Tuesday.

The lawsuit claims one key federal amendment is blocking cities like Baltimore from getting this information.

The ATF maintains a database of firearm trace data, which officials can use to track the flow of recovered guns from manufacturer to distributor.

But Scott says the bureau denied a Freedom of Information Act request for that data in September, which would have provided city leaders with the top ten sources of crime guns in Baltimore between 2018 and 2022.

Read more: CBS News