http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/04/nyc-mayor-bloomberg-outra_n_563337.html With his city still on edge over this weekend's attempted truck-bombing in Times Square, New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg heads to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to give Congress a piece of his mind on a closely related issue. Bloomberg is upset about a federal loophole that, amazingly enough, allows people on the FBI's Terrorist Watchlist to legally buy guns and explosives. Current federal law specifies only a limited number of reasons the government can cite to block the purchase of guns or explosives -- and being in the FBI's database of those "known or reasonably suspected of being involved in terrorist activity" isn't one of them. Despite what would appear to be an easy vote, members of Congress, at least in part due to fear of the gun lobby, have consistently bucked requests from both the Bush and Obama administrations to close what Bloomberg calls the "terror gap." "We need Congress to have our back on this issue, it's upsetting that, so far, they haven't," Bloomberg told the Huffington Post on Tuesday, through a spokesman. "There is no silver bullet, but we have to give law enforcement every tool we can. New York City remains at the top of the terrorist target list, something we were reminded of this weekend." Weapons sales to suspected terrorists are not hypothetical, either. According to new statistics compiled by the Government Accountability Office and exclusively obtained by the Huffington Post, individuals on the terrorist watchlist were involved in firearm or explosives background checks 1,228 times in the past six years -- and 1,119 of those transactions were allowed to proceed.
Government needs to stand on one side of the fence or the other, if you are going to basically blacklist a person for suspected terrorist involvement or a watch list, why wait for them to prove themselves as one. Deport their ass on out of here asap. Problem solved. Each one of those requests by persons on a suspect list were phoned in by a gun dealer and approved by the state. As soon as one applies for the gun send a police officer to handcuff their butts and haul them in. Changing the law is full of crap, get rid of the problem when it's known to exist.
The criteria for placing someone on the terrorist watch list isn't focused enough to be used to prohibit someone from legally owning a firearm or acquiring various classes of explosives. And that's the problem.
Then there's a problem with the list not the law. The story says Bloomberg wants anyone on the list to be prohibited from purchasing a firearm or explosive, if the person in question is that suspicious, then why let them stay here in the first place?
Agreed. Because the list is faulty. There are far more innocent people on the list than even potentially guilty. The list's primary purpose is to keep a watch on people because of the methodology used to determine how one gets on the list.
Agreed. We are a nation of laws, innocent until proven guilty being one of the constitutional biggies. But the law only works when it's enforced. Both extremes end up negative. (a) not enforcing the law,and (b) breaking it. So giving up our liberties to prevent further possible attacks, is it worth it?
If someone is on a watch list, then are they being watched buy weapons? Reminds me of the FBI watching people from Saudi Arabia taking flying lessons in Florida... Watching is not the problem...paying attention is the real problem with our security systems in this country... http://www.prisonplanet.com/fbi_knew_terrorists_using_flight_schools.html
We walk a very thin line between individual freedom and overall security. Everything I read in that report points to loose boarder control as the main problem. At some point tighter control needs to be applied, where to apply that is the question. One of the shining aspects of this country is the individual freedom of it's citizens (I can already hear the keyboards clicking away on that one as it's fading fast) but the reason for any loss of individual freedom is it's given away by the citizens in return for the appearance of increased security. In the end, it's either we give up all freedom and privacy or we close the boarder and purge the list. Problem being is we end up like we were in WWII, locking up and deporting everyone that looks different, because without doing just that it's just a matter of time before someone is successful.
I am assuming you know the difference between watching and paying attention... People watch TV all the time...are they paying attention to what they are watching? Does the average TSA employee at the airports pay attention? All the nonsense that has followed from 9/11, if not 9/11 itself has to do with people not paying attention... Imagine if the security personnel paid as much attention to their work as traders pay attention to the stock tickers, charts, futures, etc. Why is it in America that we fill some of the most important positions, i.e. security, teaching, etc. with some of the least talented people on earth...well, we know why...
Bloomberg wants to bar everyone from being able to buy guns. This is just a convenient way to bash the NRA. I have to agree with a previous poster. If being on the watch list is the problem, why not just deport all the non-citizens on it? I'm just guessing the liberals lining up to bash the NRA would howl over that.