More than 800 gun buyers on terrorist watch list

[ninemm]

WASHINGTON – More than 800 gun purchases were approved after background checks in the last five years even though the buyers' names were on the government's terrorist watch list, investigators said Monday.

Being on the watch list is not among the nine factors, such as a felony conviction, that disqualify someone from buying a gun under federal law. More than 900 background checks between February 2004 and February 2009 turned up names on the watch list, and all but 98 were allowed to go through.

The watch list — maintained by the FBI and used by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies — is meant to identify known or suspected terrorists. However, the list has drawn criticism over the years for mistakes that have led to questioning and searches of innocent people.

The Government Accountability Office, the watchdog arm of Congress, provided the updated statistics in a new report. The GAO issued a report on the watch-list loophole in 2005, but no changes have been made to the law.

"The current law simply defies common sense," Sen. Frank Lautenberg said in a statement Monday.

Lautenberg, D-N.J., has been calling for years to close the "terror gap" in the gun law and introduced legislation Monday to address this concern. "Known and suspected terrorists are exploiting a major loophole in our law, threatening our families and our communities," he said.

The FBI plans to analyze where people on the watch list are trying to purchase guns as well as other information, the GAO said.

There are about 400,000 people on the terror watch list, according to the FBI. Over the past two years, the agency has looked at 830 people who believe they are on the watch list by mistake. For privacy and national security reasons, the FBI does not acknowledge whether a person has been removed from the list.

The top lobbyist for the National Rifle Association said the terrorist watch list has poor integrity.

"Law-abiding Americans should not be treated like terrorists," the NRA's Chris Cox said. "To deny law-abiding people due process and their Second Amendment rights based on a secret list is not how we do things in America."

In 2007, the Justice Department supported legislation that would address the gap, but Congress did not act on it.

The Justice Department is reviewing Lautenberg's bill, department spokesman Dean Boyd said

[dicion]

The problem with this list is, they can add you to it, for any reason, with no proof of wrongdoing.

So allowing gun purchases to be denies based on this list, allows the government to deny ANYONE, without any proof of anything, from buying a firearm.

Somehow, I see the following scenario happening:

"Sorry, you have been denied from purchasing a firearm"
"Why?"
"You are on the terror watch list"
"Why am I on the list?"
"For wanting to purchase a firearm"

[Rocket_Cowboy]

Somehow, I see the following scenario happening:

"Sorry, you have been denied from purchasing a firearm"
"Why?"
"You are on the terror watch list"
"Why am I on the list?"
"For wanting to purchase a firearm"

Yup.

I wonder if the good senator would mind as much if it were his freedoms that were being violated based on someone else's "hunch".

[A-R]

I wonder if the good senator would mind as much if it were his freedoms that were being violated based on someone else's "hunch".

Simple way to find out ... put all of Sen. Lautenberg's private security guards on a "watch list" and deny them access to firearms of any kind. See how quickly he reverses his stance when it denys him the basic human right of self defense.

Heck, you could apply the above scenario to any anti-gunner in upper echelon of society (politicians, CEOs, celebrities). They all talk about denying everyone else's access to guns, as long as their private armies (ahem, I mean security guards) are allowed to keep their guns.

[bdickens]

Y'all see the infamous DHS report on right-wing extremism? It looks like the terrorist watch list is a pretty long one.

[mymojo]

So it takes more than being suspected of something to disqualify someone from buying a gun?

Sounds like the system is working as intended.

[stevie_d_64]

Well, you can do better than disarming his bodyguards...

Just don't elect him to that office anymore...

See what staying at a Holiday Inn Express will do for you???

[A-R]

Well, you can do better than disarming his bodyguards...

Just don't elect him to that office anymore...

See what staying at a Holiday Inn Express will do for you???

Actually, I'd rather have an elected official with no bodyguards (and no special health insurance, no ability to vote his/her own raises, no chauffered limos etc) .... because THAT elected official would certainly start doing things that benefit the COMMON MAN ..... if we just force him out of office, then another politician will just fill the void and we get no where.

[apostate]

Forget guns. How many people on the terrorist watch list were allowed to vote last year? Or go to church/mosque?

[bpet]

I love it when politicians start using secret lists to generate concern among the public in order to push their agenda.

Reminds me a lot of the push for immediate approval for TARP funds and stimulus packages to avert catastrophic financial consequences.

Can't show you the data that backs up any of these crisis but "believe me" they are real..

...oh, we don't have time to let anyone read the bill that responds to this crisis, just be glad we signed it, otherwise, things would have been much worse.

To demonstrate the success of these strategies, just look at how many jobs were "saved" by the quick response of your elected officials.

I'm a believer (SURE)!