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CNN/AP- NRA opposes bill to stop gun sales to terror suspects

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  • CNN/AP- NRA opposes bill to stop gun sales to terror suspects



    NRA opposes bill to stop gun sales to terror suspects

    Story Highlights
    • Group urges Bush administration to withdraw support of bill
    • Bill would let AG block terror suspects' gun sales, licenses, permits
    • NRA: Measure would "allow arbitrary denial of Second Amendment rights"

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- The National Rifle Association is urging the Bush administration to withdraw its support of a bill that would prohibit suspected terrorists from buying firearms.

    Backed by the Justice Department, the measure would give the attorney general the discretion to block gun sales, licenses or permits to terror suspects.

    In a letter this week to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, NRA executive director Chris Cox said the bill, offered last week by Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-New Jersey, "would allow arbitrary denial of Second Amendment rights based on mere 'suspicions' of a terrorist threat."

    "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," Cox wrote.

    In a letter supporting the measure, Acting Assistant Attorney General Richard Hertling said the bill would not automatically prevent a gun sale to a suspected terrorist. In some cases, federal agents may want to let a sale go forward to avoid compromising an ongoing investigation.

    Hertling also notes there is a process to challenge denial of a sale.

    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.

    "When I tell people that you can be on a terrorist watch list and still be allowed to buy as many guns as you want, they are shocked," said Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which supports Lautenberg's bill. (The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence Web site)

    In the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings, lawmakers are considering a number of measures to strengthen gun sale laws. The NRA, which usually opposes increased restrictions on firearms, is taking different positions depending on the proposal. (The National Rifle Association Web site)

    "Right now, law enforcement carefully monitors all firearms sales to those on the terror watch list," said NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam. "Injecting the attorney general into the process just politicizes it."

    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.
    Let's see. Allow terrorists to buy guns or possibly be declined on a purchase when I am stuck on a list of suspected terrorists.

    I think I'd rather have the ability to shoot back at the terrorists once they have their guns, thank you very much. Besides- I believe terrorists for the most part are more interested in weapons of mass destruction. While the Chechen school hostage/massacre does come to mind, it isnt the typical islamic extremists M.O.
    Enjoy Freedom? Get off your ass and do something to preserve it then.

    Calguns.net OpenCarry.org
    ronpaul2008.com
    constitutionparty.com

  • #2
    Yes,

    Another rule that lets the current administration manipulate the process to its' own end. It also makes the NRA out to be the bad guys again.

    Comment


    • #3
      The kinds of weapons the terrorists would by are not at the local store.

      Just like saying that there is a lot of criminals using firearms in a city so no one will be allowed to purchase guns in the city. Like criminals won't get guns and use them in that city because of a law.....
      Victim of Chelene Nightingale's internet despotism

      Comment


      • #4
        Exactly-

        for instance, in California it is prohibited to have a firearm in a school zone-- that is, a 1000' surrounding a campus. There are exceptions for law enforcement, people licensed to carry firearms, etc., but does anyone think for a second that a criminal determined to commit a crime is going to pay ANY attention to a law that only influences the behaviour of those who are inclined to obey the law?

        Hell no.

        Its the same with this list of suspected terrorists... Let's say Muhammed Hakim Al Jaffari needs an AK or an M-4 but he's on the list. He makes a connection with someone who isnt on any watch list in his mosque who buys the gun under his clean name.

        He still gets his gun, while Bill Schmedly a law-abiding citizen from Michigan gets posted on this list for having ties to a Militia group he attended meetings with in 1993. He goes to buy a pump action 12 gauge and cant because some joker with the FBI with a chip on his shoulder stuck him on a watch list more nearly 15 years ago. For fear of seeing jail time, he wont do like Muhammed will, because he has a wife and family to care for and doesnt want to put his friends in harms way.

        I say dump this watch list, and let Americans defend themselves.

        (All the names and situations above are fictional.)
        Enjoy Freedom? Get off your ass and do something to preserve it then.

        Calguns.net OpenCarry.org
        ronpaul2008.com
        constitutionparty.com

        Comment


        • #5
          Democrats, NRA reach deal on bill

          Gun lobby bargains for concessions on background checks
          By Jonathan Weisman
          The Washington Post
          Published June 10, 2007


          WASHINGTON -- Senior Democrats have reached agreement with the National Rifle Association on what could be the first federal gun-control legislation since 1994, a measure to significantly strengthen the national system that checks the backgrounds of gun buyers......

          http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/n...ationworld-hed

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