Banned from flying – OK to buy guns and explosives
People on the government’s terrorist watch list tried to buy guns nearly 1,000 times in the last five years, and federal authorities cleared the purchases 9 times out of 10 because they had no legal way to stop them, according to a new government report.
In one case, a person on the list was able to buy more than 50 pounds of explosives.
The new statistics, compiled in a report from the Government Accountability Office that is scheduled for public release next week, draw attention to an odd divergence in federal law: people placed on the government’s terrorist watch list can be stopped from getting on a plane or getting a visa, but they cannot be stopped from buying a gun.
Gun purchases must be approved unless federal officials can find some other disqualification of the would-be buyer, like being a felon, an illegal immigrant or a drug addict.
“This is a glaring omission, and it’s a security issue,” Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, the New Jersey Democrat who requested the study, said in an interview.
Mr. Lautenberg plans to introduce legislation on Monday that would give the attorney general the discretion to block gun sales to people on terror watch lists.
Good luck, of course. The NRA and the nutball Right in this land of political Oz will battle tooth and claw to protect everyone’s heaven-ordained right to kill and maim their fellows. As long as it’s done with firearms.
The bottled intellects of Homeland Insecurity know where their bread is buttered. They will fight to stop anyone who ever uttered a syllable of dissent from climbing aboard one of our overpriced airborne cattle cars. Otherwise no one gets elected.
But, the oversight brigade – clotted comfortably in Congress – haven’t half the spine required to challenge the money and noise, obedient media clowns and commentators, dedicated to an excess of gunpowder. Otherwise no one gets elected.
So they believe.
