Could You Be On The List?

Someone e-mailed me a Washington Times article, Bills would ban sales, By Audrey Hudson, the article says there are now bills in congress that would prevent suspected terrorist from buying firearms. Critics of this effort to fight terrorism are concerned about the accuracy of the watch list, they feel mistakes could prevent honest citizens from being able to purchase firearms. Rep. Steve King of Iowa said he will not support legislation that would deny citizens of their constitutional right through a secret list without adjudication. He went on to say, "Boarding a plane is a privilege, owning a gun is a right". The article says the the legislation in congress is in response to a Government Accountability Office audit found that 35 gun sales had been approved to people whose names matched names on terrorist watch list. Representative Carolyn McCarthy (D-New York) who is pushing a no fly no buy bill says she knows that having your name on the list does not make you a terrorist. She says, " Any law-abiding citizen wrongly included on the list will be able to follow the Transportation Security Administration's procedure for quick removal from the no- fly list." Her bill would add the no-fly list used by airlines to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System which is used by gun shop owners. The National Shooting and Sports Foundation (NSSF) found out that some of the names on the list are members of congress, Sen. Edward Kennedy, Rep. John Lewis, and Rep. Don Young to name a few. NSSF says it's senior vice president and general council were also on the list, proving it is not reliable. NSSF communications director Gary Mehalik said, "It's a secret government list and we don't know who gets on or why."

That last quote is what really got my attention. the article mentions three members of congress that found out their names had been added to the no-fly terrorist watch list. We all know that politicians can't possibly make all the people happy all the time. Do you suppose someone with access to the list could have been upset by one of their votes and their names were added to the list as an act of revenge? I don't know a lot about the NSSF, but I assume they support the Second Amendment, if they make statements opposing new gun control laws they could get the anti-gun crowd upset. If they were stopped for being a suspected terrorist at the airport it would be easy to discredit anything they said in the future. Just think, if I'm right about this I could find out later that I made the list for posting this blog.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not opposed to the government trying to stop another terrorist attack on our soil. It's the way they are going about it that I'm opposed to. We could start by securing our borders, if any other country in the world was leading the war on terrorism their borders would be locked down. If there are known terrorist in the country don't watch them, arrest them. It just seems to me that a lot of what is being done to fight the war on terrorism at home is creating more problems for the honest citizens than it is for the suspected terrorist.

God Bless America, God Save The Republic.