Preventative Measures

I'm not sure how long this link will remain active but here's the story-

The Justice Department and a Northeastern Democrat have formed a rare alliance intended to restrict gun sales to terror suspects.

The key word here is not terrorist but suspect. Bear that in mind.

The bill, introduced late Thursday by Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-New Jersey, after two years of study produced an endorsement by the Justice Department, would give the attorney general power to block gun sales to persons on terrorism watch lists. In some instances, the attorney general could let a sale go through -- for example, when stopping the sale would hinder a terrorism investigation.

The measure also includes ways for would-be buyers to appeal a denial by the attorney general.

"The administration finally realized that letting terrorists buy guns is dangerous," Lautenberg said. "This 'terror' gap in our gun laws has been open too long."

Okay, quick question- if a person is a terrorist why are they at large and not arrested? Who exactly gets to decide, without going before a judge and jury, that a person is defined as a terrorist? Does a cop or FBI agent or BATFE employee get to decide that someone is a terrorist suspect- perhaps a person just has a "beef" with the government.

The Justice Department, which endorsed the idea in letters this week to congressional leaders, said the delay was necessary in part to study potential situations in which barring a gun buy could interfere with investigations and intelligence collection.

So let me get this right- if a person is indeed a terrorist or a suspected terrorist I'd suggest two things- bring them before a court to charge them or, if they are foreign nationals inside the USA, kick them out of the country right away. As it stands it seems to be that suspicion of being a terrorist is sufficient grounds to be denied the right to keep and bear arms. Now, I'm sure that right now you're thinking about Islamic terrorists and 9/11, right? Well, how about all those right-wing Christian groups that the FBI, BATFE, etc consider terrorist threats to the United States? Or the environmentalists that a few years ago were considered the No. 1 terrorist threat by the Feds.

Perhaps in years to come anyone who doesn't agree with the laws coming out of Washington could be branded a suspected terrorist and thus denied the right to purchase firearms. Not so long ago a Democrat lawmaker was trying to brand groups like the Minutemen as domestic terrorists. This looks like the beginning of a very, very slippery slope. It seems to me that the recent Washington DC case which established that the Second Amendment was an individual right has not strengthened the pro-gun position but rather encouraged more extreme tactics from the gun-grabbers. They seem to be frantically trying to find ways to combat it.

And all the while there aren't even enough NRA members to put pressure on the NRA itself to explain why they handed Sheriff Bill Brown an A+ rating. Come on guys, you've seen what's happened here in the UK- do you really want to live like that too?