The occasional crazy person getting guns is the trade-off we make for our general right to have them.
True. However, there are methods to filter out some of the crazy people, and/or people on a terrorist watch list. We shouldn't allow felons to buy guns, right? Unless they are NRA members... http://www.vpc.org/studies/felons.htm
No, being on a "watch list" shouldn't in itself be reason to suddenly deny your Constitutional Rights. What if a totalitarian government decided to issue a blanket watch list with millions of names on it?
I think that until we're putting chips into everyone's brains, to monitor for "unauthorized" thoughts, we'll just have to accept the method we've long used: if someone shoots, for example, a dozen people at a school, on the highway, at a fast food joint, etc., then we know they are crazy and they can't have guns. As far as I know, the government is already "all over" people they catch who are fraternizing with known terrorist organizations, foreign or domestic, so I'm not sure of the utility of more laws on the issue.
republicans refuse to stop people who are considered too dangerous to get on an airplane from legally buying guns and explosives. Bloomberg 'Terror Gap' Argument Shot Down By Pro-Gun GOP Senators New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's appeal to what he called "common sense" at a congressional hearing Wednesday morning failed to sway two Republican senators who said that giving the government the ability to block the purchase of guns by suspected terrorists would undermine the Second Amendment's right to bear arms. "Shouldn't FBI agents have the authority to block sales of guns and explosives to those on the terror watchlists -- and deemed too dangerous to fly? I actually believe that they should," Bloomberg told senators. Federal law currently only allows the government to block guns sales for a very limited number of reasons, and being on that list is not one of them. (For more background, see Tuesday's article on the subject.) "This common-sense legislation is not anti-gun -- it's anti-terrorist," chimed in Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), the sponsor of a bill that would close what Bloomberg has called a "terror gap." But GOP Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lindsay Graham of South Carolina wouldn't go along. Admitting that "at first blush" the bill "seems to be an obvious step that we should take," Collins said that many people on the FBI's watchlist don't belong there. "None of us wants a terrorist to be able to purchase a gun, but neither should we want to infringe upon a Constitutional right of law-abiding Americans," she said. Graham described the bill as an instrument of those who would ban guns altogether. "We're talking about a constitutional right here," he said, explaining that he could not support a bill that would force "innocent Americans" to "pay the cost of going to court to get their gun rights back." Graham wasn't nearly as concerned about rights when he launched into a disquisition on the treatment of American citizens accused of terrorism. "I am all into national security," he said. "I want them to stop reading these guys Miranda rights." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/05/bloomberg-terror-gap-argu_n_564733.html
Once again, your putting the cart in front of the horse, if these people are too dangerous to let fly on an airplane, why are they here? If they are US citizens without a felony, they have the constitutional right to purchase firearms. If they are legal/illegal aliens --- why is our government letting them stay here if they are dangerous. Laws won't stop criminals from getting their hands on guns. Disarming the public only makes them vulnerable. Why would we allow anyone from another country to stay inside our boarders if the FBI suspects them of terrorism is beyond me.
i would guess that these are us citizens. illegal aliens are not going to be putting themselves through the permiting process. there is no reason the law cant be tightened up so suspected terrorists would be denied when they try to buy explosivies. the nra is on the wrong side of public opinion on this one,as usual. law abiding gun owners should be for this. freedoms are lost in response to things like this. if gun owners want to keep the right to buy arms they should support common sense laws.
I would guess that most are not US citizens but are here on visa, students and such. I would agree that anyone suspected of being a terrorist shouldn't be allowed to purchase a gun, but if they are a US citizen you are violating their constitutional rights if they haven't done anything wrong. Reread your history about how we treated Japanese people after Pearl Harbor. Passing a law will not keep guns out of the hands of criminals if they want them, one more law broken means nothing. It's all feel good legislation but does very little.
I presume your point, if I may finish your thought, American institutions are failing because of affirmative hiring practices.