A Private Party

A federal judge in Brooklyn ruled that New York can have access to gun tracing information gathered by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, despite a recently-passed measure that forbids such data from being used in civil suits.

The judge said that measure doesn't apply to New York because it was acting as a private plaintiff, not "the public.”

Well, hey, that door swings both ways, then. If New York is a private party, then its gun control laws should be applied to its agents as private individuals. Any public funds used in pursuit of private aims--including city facilities and compensation for city personnel engaged in pursuing this lawsuit during working hours--should be treated as stolen.