What would you think of someone who referred to the National Sheriffs Association and its 21,000 members as a “puppet police organization�?

Or who called the 20,000 members of the International Association of Chiefs of Police a “pseudo police organization�?

Or who thinks that AFL-CIO member group The International Brotherhood of Police Officers is “just a website�?

Or who dismisses the expertise and experience of 20 state and regional law enforcement groups and more than 200 individual chiefs of police?

You’d probably think that person was no friend to chiefs of police or rank-and-file officers. You’d probably think that person had a deep distrust for law enforcement authorities, and was hoping to discredit them to further some political goal. But you’d never think that person had painted himself as a champion of police.

And yet, those words were recently spoken by Congressman Todd Tiahrt, who insists that his crime-gun secrecy restrictions were designed for the protection of police officers and the preservation of official investigations. This is the same crime-gun secrecy law that the International Brotherhood of Police Officers calls “anti-law-enforcement,� and which New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said “[harms] efforts to curtail gun violence in this country.�

The Tiahrt restrictions, which have been in Appropriations bills since 2003, may face a vote in the House of Representatives later today. Whatever the political debate has in store for this controversial measure, it’s clear that real police groups have real concerns about not being able to access data on the source of crime guns.

(Note to readers: This blog entry, as well as past blog entries, are co-posted on bradycampaign.org/blog and www.huffingtonpost.com)