{"id":48459,"date":"2015-11-24T20:03:50","date_gmt":"2015-11-25T01:03:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/blog\/?p=48459"},"modified":"2015-11-24T20:03:50","modified_gmt":"2023-08-19T04:27:50","slug":"should-those-on-terrorist-watchlist-be-denied-gun-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/should-those-on-terrorist-watchlist-be-denied-gun-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"Should those on Terrorist Watchlist be Denied Gun Rights?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Question for ya: Should those on the government\u2019s terrorist watchlist be denied their Second Amendment rights?<\/p>\n

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Rep. Peter King (R-NY) believe the answer to that question is a resounding \u201cYes.\u201d Both reintroduced a bill last week that would allow the justice department to prevent any suspect on the FBI\u2019s watchlist from purchasing firearms and explosives.<\/p>\n

\"Background<\/a>

Background checks for those on the terrorist watchlist. (Photo: ABC News<\/em>)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re too dangerous to board a plane, you\u2019re too dangerous to buy a gun,\u201d said Feinstein, at a press conference.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cFrom 2004 to 2014, over a 10 year period, the GAO \u2026 took a look at this. And they report, that of the 2,233 people on the FBI\u2019s terrorist watchlist who went through a background check to buy a weapon, of those 2,043 passed that background check and likely purchased a firearm or explosives,\u201d said the California Democrat.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, that means that 91 percent of the people on the FBI\u2019s watchlist who tried to buy weapons in the country, are in fact able to do so,\u201d Feinstein continued. \u201cTo me, this is just a shocking statistic and one which might be addressed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, there\u2019s just one little problem with this bill. It\u2019s called the Constitution. As you probably know, the Fifth Amendment reads, in part, \u201cNo person shall be nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

The government cannot simply revoke one\u2019s right to keep and bear arms without due process, without the proper legal proceedings. Moreover, the FBI\u2019s Watchlist,\u00a0known as the Terrorist Screening Database, is not the same as a criminal conviction. It means one is, well, being watched or monitored by the government. \u00a0It does not mean one is a convicted terrorist or, as it relates to the ability to purchase a firearm, a \u201cprohibited person.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no wonder then why the American Civil Liberties Union opposes the FBI’s Watchlist.<\/p>\n

\"(Photo:<\/a>

A breakdown of who is on the watchlist. (Photo: Intercept)<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThe federal government\u2019s Watchlist system lacks the kind of narrow, specific criteria and rigorous safeguards that would help protect innocent people from the negative consequences of blacklisting,” Hugh Handeyside, a staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project, told ABC News.<\/a><\/p>\n

“Instead, the criteria are overbroad, ensnaring innocents, and the system as a whole is unfair and bloated with no meaningful way to clear one\u2019s name and get off the lists,\u201d Handeyside.<\/p>\n

An eye-opening investigation<\/a> by The Intercept<\/em> revealed that the Terrorist Screening Database is flawed. \u00a0Classified documents <\/a>obtained by the publication showed that nearly half of the more than 680,000 people on the list had no known connections to terrorist organizations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf everything is terrorism, then nothing is terrorism,\u201d David Gomez, a former senior FBI special agent, told The Intercept<\/em>. Gomez added that the watchlist system is \u201crevving out of control.\u201d<\/p>\n

The FBI does not offer specifics of who is on the list nor does it publicize the process for how one ends up on the list because it believes it will jeopardize the system. \u00a0Yet what is clear is that the Watchlist isn’t going away anytime soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou might as well have a blue wand and just pretend there\u2019s magic in it, because that\u2019s what we\u2019re doing with this\u2014pretending that it works,\u201d said former FBI agent Michael German, now a fellow at New York University\u2019s Brennan Center for Justice.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese agencies see terrorism as a winning card for them,” he continued. \u00a0“They get more resources. They know that they can wave that card around and the American public will be very afraid and Congress and the courts will allow them to get away with whatever they\u2019re doing under the national security umbrella.\u201d<\/p>\n

With all that said, where do you come out on this topic? \u00a0Should those on the watchlist be denied the right to keep and bear arms?<\/p>\n

UPDATE<\/strong>: The National Shooting Sports Foundation, the firearms industry trade association, sent me these Terrorist List\u00a0Fast Facts <\/a>on the FBI’s database:<\/p>\n