Lee Knoper /AEN Tucson
AEN NEWS March 22, 1994
Copyright (c) 1994 AEN News.  All Rights Reserved.

The Phoenix, AZ Police Dept. recently asserted that if they do  not
perform the "Brady" check the city will be liable for a fine  of $1000 per
firearm transaction.  
The metro Phoenix PD assumed principal responsibility for making  the
checks in the Valley after AZ Department of Public Safety  and Maricopa
County ostensibly declined to do them.  (Scottsdale  
has said it will probably enter into inter-agency agreements,  and other
municipalities in the Valley will likely do the same.)  

When activists endeavored to discover the basis for the fine,  they were
initially told no such claim had been made, though it  was made at an
open City Council meeting.  This reply was later  "corrected" and the
BATF was identified as the source of the  threat.   
The BATF Compliance Division claimed to know nothing of the  matter. 
Scottsdale PD, however, said BATF was using part of  Title 38 (unaffected
by "Brady") to make the threat.   
George Dahl, of BATF (602-640-2840), finally told one activist  that the
empowering statute is section 102(t)(5).  Dahl admitted that this section
applies to FFLs - not PDs - who fail  to comply, and that his superiors in
D.C. had "expanded their  'interpretation' of this to include law
enforcement in order to  ensure [that] governments participate."   
It is suspected that BATF "assisted" Phoenix PD in formulating  this claim
and enforcement strategy.  AZ activists are outraged  that BATF has seen
fit once again to capriciously re-interpret  statutes and presumes to change
the intent of Congress. 

The above is a cut and paste from Internet e-mail between AZ activists. 

After reading the source messages, I went through a similar process with
Tucson Police Dept., which will be the central implementing agency for
"Brady" checks for Pima County.  Their legal advisor is supposed to call
me Monday to confirm/deny/explain the BATF penalty/threat.
