Last week, the NRA sent a letter to the Bush administration asking it to withdraw its support for a Bill that would “DENY GUN SALES TO TERROR SUSPECTS!”
Their argument sounds like something out of the ACLU’s playbook, “As many of our friends in law enforcement have rightly pointed out, the word 'suspect' has no legal meaning, particularly when it comes to denying constitutional liberties,” wrote Chris Cox the NRA’s executive director.
In the wake of the Virginia Tech rampage, legislators are looking to close some of the more obvious loopholes in gun buying laws. Current law requires gun dealers to conduct a criminal background check and deny sales if a gun purchaser falls under a specified prohibition, including a felony conviction, domestic abuse conviction or illegal immigration. There is no legal basis to deny a sale if a purchaser is on a terror watch list.
Look, if you're on a terror watch list, you are almost certainly there for good reason. Perhaps you unknowingly contributed to a charity that has ties to various terror groups – that’s reason enough for me!
Once a person is cleared, and they’re off that terror watch list, they can buy all the guns they want.
How serious is the problem?
Well, according to a recent AP article, “A 2005 study by the Government Accountability Office found that 35 of 44 firearm purchase attempts over a five-month period made by known or suspected terrorists were approved by the federal law enforcement officials.”
Come on NRA!
Don’t marginalize yourselves standing up for the “rights” of suspected terrorists!
Their argument sounds like something out of the ACLU’s playbook, “As many of our friends in law enforcement have rightly pointed out, the word 'suspect' has no legal meaning, particularly when it comes to denying constitutional liberties,” wrote Chris Cox the NRA’s executive director.
In the wake of the Virginia Tech rampage, legislators are looking to close some of the more obvious loopholes in gun buying laws. Current law requires gun dealers to conduct a criminal background check and deny sales if a gun purchaser falls under a specified prohibition, including a felony conviction, domestic abuse conviction or illegal immigration. There is no legal basis to deny a sale if a purchaser is on a terror watch list.
Look, if you're on a terror watch list, you are almost certainly there for good reason. Perhaps you unknowingly contributed to a charity that has ties to various terror groups – that’s reason enough for me!
Once a person is cleared, and they’re off that terror watch list, they can buy all the guns they want.
How serious is the problem?
Well, according to a recent AP article, “A 2005 study by the Government Accountability Office found that 35 of 44 firearm purchase attempts over a five-month period made by known or suspected terrorists were approved by the federal law enforcement officials.”
Come on NRA!
Don’t marginalize yourselves standing up for the “rights” of suspected terrorists!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070504/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/terror_suspects_guns&printer=1;_ylt=At4IeCu7BB7y34Pq28aVrCWWwvIE
