Guns And The Terrorist “Loophole”
BY Herschel Smith
9 years, 1 month ago
Having overwhelmingly lost the public debate about whether the Obama administration’s Syrian refugee screening policy should be enhanced, Democrats have retreated to more comfortable rhetorical ground: demanding more gun control.
Their new secret weapon? A bill that would ban anyone whose name appears on a terror watch list from buying or possessing a firearm. The idea sounds reasonable enough until you dig into the details and realize that the proposed Democratic legislation is a shocking assault on the constitutional right to due process. What makes the proposal even worse is that the Democrats’ assault on due process isn’t necessary to accomplish what they say is their only goal: preventing “dangerous terrorists” from legally purchasing or possessing a firearm.
The new bill, which Democrats have dubbed the Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2015, gives the U.S. attorney general the authority to “deny the sale, delivery, or transfer of a firearm or the issuance of a firearms or explosives license or permit to dangerous terrorists.”
According to several Democratic sponsors of the bill, the proposed law would allow the attorney general to deny a criminal background check clearance to any individual whose name appears on the national terror watch list. The huge problem with this expansive new power is that there are precisely zero statutory criteria for inclusion on this massive list. In fact, when statutory authority for the centralized government database was first codified into law via the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, Congress gave all authority for determining criteria for inclusion in the watch list to unelected, unaccountable government bureaucrats. If some faceless Beltway bureaucrat decides you might be a terrorist, then you’re a terrorist. End of story.
It gets even worse, though. If your name erroneously appears on that watch list, which as of 2013 included nearly 900,000 names, the Democrats’ proposed legislation renders you virtually powerless to find out why your name is on there, let alone to have it removed. And having your name erroneously or fraudulently added to that list isn’t as far-fetched as you might think.
In 2014, for example, Weekly Standard writer and Fox News contributor Stephen F. Hayes was informed that somebody added his name to the Department of Homeland Security’s terrorist watch list. There is zero credible evidence that he has any ties whatsoever to terrorism or to any terrorist organizations. Yet, under the Democrats’ new bill, he and everyone else who is erroneously listed would be banned from ever purchasing or possessing a firearm. Hayes’ apparent crime was traveling overseas for a cruise. Hayes is not alone. Each year, thousands of names end up on the terror watch list for no good reason whatsoever.
Under the Democrats’ proposal, the government doesn’t have to tell you why your name is on the list. The proposed law allows the government to keep that information secret. And if you decide to take the government to court over it, the Democrats’ bill creates a brand new legal standard that tilts the scales of justice against you.
Unlike a standard criminal trial, in which a jury must decide beyond a reasonable doubt whether you have violated a criminal law, under this proposed law the government must only show a preponderance of evidence–evidence which will almost certainly be redacted–in order to strip you of your Second Amendment right to defend yourself and your family from terrorists …
Read the rest by Sean Davis. The whole thing is a very bad idea for increased federal government surveillance and control, except it’s on steroids. In this case, the federal leviathan would use this bill, if passed, as a tool to circumvent due process rights.
As I have said before:
I’m a Christian who believes abortion is murder, who supports secession, who has a negative view of the U.N., who stockpiles ammunition (as his budget allows), who believes in the right to bear arms, who is deeply concerned about immigration (and not just illegal immigration), who believes in the militia, who opposes the “new world order,” who believes that Islam is a fairy tale concocted by an evil pedophile for the purpose of keeping his roving band of murderers and thugs together, who believes that the American way of life is under attack and has been for a very long time …
I am either on such a list or should be, according to the federal leviathan who wants to control the souls of all of its subjects. As for really bad people who should purchase guns, Form 4473 should stop that, in specific question 11k. And if terrorists aren’t in the country illegally, then what’s the real problem here? Me and the rest of America, or our open border policies?
Oh, and gosh, looky here at just who in the GOP field of candidates likes the idea of a database of “terrorists who aren’t allowed to buy guns?” You guessed it. It’s Trump. Why do you need a database if you are going to seal the borders and make everyone go home like Trump claims? ‘Nuff said.
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On November 24, 2015 at 6:01 am, Lina Inverse said:
I looked into these claims that Trump is proposing a “database of all Muslims” in the US and all I could find was MSM reporters trying to entrap him into agreeing to such a concept, in one case editing out of one of his answers a specific set of other things he was actually proposing so that it looked like he was agreeing with the database concept.
We should be careful about believing the narrative of the MSM, or what the opponents of a candidate say about him. Unless you hear it unedited from his mouth, distrust and verify, I’d say.
Flipping this around, is there any other candidate as pro-gun as Trump?
On November 24, 2015 at 8:56 pm, Haywood Jablome said:
Ted Cruz
“The Second Amendment to the Constitution isn’t for just protecting hunting rights, and it’s not only to safeguard your right to target practice,” Cruz has said, per the New York Times. “It is a Constitutional right to protect your children, your family, your home, our lives, and to serve as the ultimate check against governmental tyranny — for the protection of liberty.”
Questions?
On November 24, 2015 at 11:20 am, Fred said:
“If some faceless Beltway bureaucrat decides you might be a terrorist, then you’re a terrorist.”
I don’t know who had the list for Stalin, Mao, the Khmer rouge or any of the other genocidal
mass murderers of the last century or before except one. I’m pretty sure that it has never NOT happened. Correct if I’m wrong but every nation whose government has aspired to empire has ended up committing mass murder of its own citizens as far as I know. For those who read a little history it comes as no surprise that the .gov has started to categorize some of the data (people) in its database. (Note to Dr. Ben Carson – The database already exists)
At any rate here is the face of one such list keeper I have heard about? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Eichmann
A brief description:
“Adolf Eichmann was never charged with direct
killing or ordering killing, but with ensuring that
the logistics of the dejewification of Europe ran
smoothly.”
Don’t believe in evil? To further the evidence that it is real here is how evil feels about your death. (Eichmann would) “leap laughing into the grave because the feeling that he had five million people on his conscience would be for him a source of extraordinary satisfaction.”
A man or woman of this ilk will one day be handed the US list. Unless we repent you can count on it. He or She may even claim to be doing work in the name of their god.
Our gracious host has written about these .gov organizations here:
http://www.captainsjournal.com/2014/03/24/department-of-homeland-security-targets-americans/
Excerpt: “The threat isn’t the Taliban, or al Qaeda, or the Muslim Brotherhood,
or the Chinese, or the Russians. The real threat is inside of America, and not
only that, but inside of the DHS and military structure as well.”
I humbly agree. The government of the United States of America is the greatest threat to liberty this world has ever faced. It going along with the NWO will very likely bring a new dark ages.
What is arising in America has a fascistic bent toward business and free markets. It has a Marxist bent toward individuality. It has a Maoist bent toward free expression in new media. It has flat out state control in old media. Throw in Global warming earth worship, political correctness and a sort of weird self-loathing leading to a desire for self-destruction by some in he chattering classes and I don’t know what to call it or what it will be called. When this is said and done the thing that evil is erecting around us in the United States will be called a whole new “ism” I suspect. We could still repent but it doesn’t look like that is likely to happen. Never discount God though.
On November 24, 2015 at 12:17 pm, Geoffry K said:
Sen. Ted Kennedy was on the terrorist watch list and no fly list.
Can anybody say “tyranny”?
On November 24, 2015 at 2:46 pm, Jon T. said:
https://www.donaldjtrump.com/positions/second-amendment-rights
NATIONAL RIGHT TO CARRY. The right of self-defense
doesn’t stop at the end of your driveway. That’s why I have a concealed
carry permit and why tens of millions of Americans do too. That permit
should be valid in all 50 states. A driver’s license works in every
state, so it’s common sense that a concealed carry permit should work in
every state. If we can do that for driving – which is a privilege, not a
right – then surely we can do that for concealed carry, which is a
right, not a privilege.