Wednesday, March 09, 2005

GAO Study on Gun Purchases and Terrorists

Here's a gem. Been seeing a few articles on how the present NICS check actually helps terrorists get guns. Now being called the "terrorist loophole." Ah, how very responsible of the MSM to ensure that they emotionalize something to an extreme.

Most of what the reports say is that the GAO study found that people, suspected or known to have affiliations with terrorist groups, were able to buy guns. Now the suspected thing bothers me, since this is supposed to be a country that lives by rule of law and being suspected isn't proof or conviction. Also, the present NICS system isn't setup to address terrorists watch lists, and if that is desired, then maybe the law needs be changed. But it will need to be changed greatly. My understanding is that at present if you fail a NICS check you are either mistakenly denied or you've committed a felony. I don't know what rights you have to get information on why you are denied. And like the watch lists that are used for airlines, I suspect there will be a huge amount of errors.

This article discusses Sen. Lautenberg's proposal to change the NICS checks to preserve records of purchases of suspected terrorists for a ten year period. There goes that rule of law thing again. I suppose this wouldn't be an outrageous change as long as it is strictly limited and has a sunset clause. They also point out an issue of errors similar to what I state above:
"However, there is more to this story that Sen. Lautenberg won't mention," Waldron added. "The report says an estimated 650 NICS transactions generated initial hits on terrorist watch lists during the GAO study period. Yet, the vast majority of those hits did not result in valid matches. [Emphasis mine]
That will cause issues in that NICS checks are supposed to be fast. If you ring one of these initial hits, what's to say you then end up on a list in error? Will there be back checking of the lists to ensure correctness, or will you now be considered a terror suspect because someone screwed up?

Of course, this is going to be a major blow up with all the gun control freaks screaming for legislation. You can be quite certain that there will be many attempts to stitch in more controls than just those related to terrorist watch lists.
"It's amazing that over 40 people who are on a terrorist watch list legally walked into a gun shop and bought a gun," Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Tuesday. "What is going on in this country?"
Yeah, I chose one of the clearer voices of reason from this article.
Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., who requested the GAO study along with Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., on Tuesday sent a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales asking him why the Justice Department let people listed in the FBI's Violent Gang and Terrorist Organization File buy weapons.
Interesting that the senators are both from states with extreme gun controls.

The Brady Bunch jumps right in as well with this neat little piece of propaganda. I'm not going to quote them, they're just to irritating. But check for yourself. It's short and to the point. Really bent and factually challenged. I just saw the bullet on gun inventories and laughed. I know from having an FFL that the BATFE can require an inventory at any time they please.

They all seem to miss the fact that if a terrorist wants a gun, they will get one. If they wanted to ensure that they can't be tied to the act of terrorism, they would use an illegally purchased or stolen gun. Do you really think that they would go into a store and buy it? Again, this will only punish legal purchasers and do nothing to stop crime/terrorism.

Ravenwood's Universe also makes a good point about terrorists still being able to rent vans.

UPDATE: Here is the link to the GAO .pdf of the report.

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