The NRA, Bush, and Terror Suspects and the Lure of Guns

Site of Reference: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/08/national/08terror.html?ei=5070&en=cbda603aa96c6a34&ex=1110862800&adxnnl=0&adxnnlx=1110254459-e2z+O382FvWfPR2X6q8XWA&pagewanted=print&position=

The New York Times is reporting, “Dozens of terror suspects on federal watch lists were allowed to buy firearms legally in the United States last year, according to a Congressional investigation that points up major vulnerabilities in federal gun laws.
People suspected of being members of a terrorist group are not automatically barred from legally buying a gun, and the investigation, conducted by the Government Accountability Office, indicated that people with clear links to terrorist groups had regularly taken advantage of this gap.
Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, law enforcement officials and gun control groups have voiced increasing concern about the prospect of a terrorist walking into a gun shop, legally buying an assault rifle or other type of weapon and using it in an attack.”
Allowing the terrorists to buy guns is supporting terrorism no matter how you look at it. Plain and simple it is the ruined edge of the blade, the tallest height of the heap in the garbage dump and a total betrayal of our troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The most startling part of this report is that the administration is destroying the gun records of terrorists almost immediately, in two weeks. “Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, Democrat of New Jersey, who requested the study, plans to introduce legislation to address the problem in part by requiring federal officials to keep records of gun purchases by terror suspects for a minimum of 10 years. Such records must now be destroyed within 24 hours as a result of a change ordered by Congress last year. Mr. Lautenberg maintains that the new policy has hindered terrorism investigations by eliminating the paper trail on gun purchases.”
"Destroying these records in 24 hours is senseless and will only help terrorists cover their tracks," Mr. Lautenberg said Monday. "It's an absurd policy."
He blamed what he called the Bush administration's "twisted allegiances" to the National Rifle Association for the situation.
By his “twisted allegiances” to the NRA and the Saudi Royal family President Bush has set our country back at least thirty years. How many times have the Democrats tried to introduce sweeping legislation on gun control? You don’t have a gun in your house because you don’t want your children to get a hold of it, or you have one to defend your family and that is understandable. But what is not understandable is allowing terror suspects to buy guns to use against unarmed civilians. I suppose if they do kill some of us then the administration can invade another country. Is that how it works?
The report from the New York Times concludes with, “In one instance last year, follow-up information provided by F.B.I. field agents revealed that someone on a terror watch list was deemed "mentally defective," even though that information had not yet made its way into the gun database. In a second case, field agents disclosed that an applicant was in the country illegally. Both applications were denied.
Even so, the report concluded that the Justice Department should clarify what information could and could not be shared between gun-buying administrators and terrorism investigators. It also concluded that the F.B.I. should keep closer track of the performance of state officials who handle gun background checks in lieu of the F.B.I.
"Given that these background checks involve known or suspected terrorists who could pose homeland security risks," the report said, "more frequent F.B.I. oversight or centralized management would help ensure that suspected terrorists who have disqualifying factors do not obtain firearms in violation of the law."
The depths are unfathomable to which this idiocy will go, certainly farther down than six feet under. Perhaps it could be measured if we buried everyone on top of one another, eh Mr. President?

- Chris Mansel