The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) won a victory in federal appeals court to force the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) to provide access to their gun tracing database that lists firearms linked to criminal activity. CIR specifically requested records for any gun traced to law enforcement. The ATF tried to argue that the database was created after the Freedom of Information Act was enacted so constituted a “new record” that they were not required to release. (Eye On Ohio, December 8, 2020, by Eye On Ohio Staff)
Harvard Law School’s Cyberlaw Clinic filed an amicus brief in the case, arguing that “searching, filtering, sorting, and other forms of database manipulation do not constitute the creation of a new record. The brief explained how databases like the one used by ATF are structured, and how a database can be queried to yield information in various arrangements.” (Cyberlaw Clinic, December 7, 2020, by Mason Kortz)