Terrorist Watch List and Firearm Purchases

Last week, U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) reintroduced legislation targeting gun owners whose name may be on what is known as the "Terror Watch List." This is also known as the "No Fly List." Some very well known people have wound up on the list who have no ties to terrorism. People like U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy (terrorizing our wallets doesn't count) and Congressman John Lewis. Some military personnel have also somehow ended up on the list. All of these are known as "false positives" which occurs when a passenger who is not on the No Fly List has a name that matches or is similar to a name on the list.

No one except those who put names on the list know how a name ends up on it, nor can anyone explain how to get a name off the list. One does not have to be a terror suspect to be on the list. Once can simply live next door to a suspect. You don't even have to have been accused of doing anything to be on the list. And, Senator Frank Lautenberg thinks the estimated 1,000,000 people on the list should summarily have their 2nd Amendment Rights taken away from them without the due process guarantees in the Constitution.

But Lautenberg is not the only person who believes anyone on the terror watch list should be denied their 2nd Amendment rights. Someone very close to President Obama believes this, and as a congressman, he spoke at a Brady Campaign dinner where he said people on the watch list are "not part of the American family." That someone is none other than Rahm Emanuel.

As is usually the case, Cam Edwards of NRA News was talking about this before anyone else in the MSM and after Lautenberg introduced his bill, he did a segment on the subject, including re-running portions of Emanuel's speech to the Brady Campaign.



Some believe that at some point, President Obama, having dissed so many portions of his base, will have to throw a bone to some to keep them happy. Given the number of legislators who have gone on record that they will not support a renewal of the "assault weapons" ban, it is probably safe to say the assault weapons ban will not be that bone (though that does not mean we don't remain vigilant). However, the gun control movement works on emotion over logic. With buzz words like "terror watch list" and "no terrorist should be allowed to buy guns" this issue may be tailor made for Obama to twist arms as he did with the "Cap and Trade" bill last week. I am not saying it will happen, just that it could be the one gun control issue he thinks would be the best use of his political muscle. And to do this, he would likely want to do it as far out from the mid term elections as possible.

After taking on the economy, "climate change" and health care all before the fall, what's left?