I posted this bit of satire in jest, but it seems Bllomberg and his ilk are gaining traction with this "terror gap" nonsense.
Is your name:
James Robinson?
Robert Johnson?
Gary Smith?
John Williams?
Edward Kennedy?
John Lewis?
Daniel Brown?
James Moore?
Robert Campbell?
David Nelson?
John Anderson?
or the same or similar to any of the other 1 million plus names on the watch list?
If so, you may soon loose your 2A rights.
Our country's watch list system is grossly bloated and unfair with over a million names -- including many unlikely suspects -- and not very effective as a security measure.
To be effective, and to be fair, terrorist watch lists must be tightly focused on true terrorists who pose a genuine threat.
The uncontroversial contention that Osama Bin Laden and a handful of other known terrorists should not be allowed on an aircraft is being used to create a monster that goes far beyond what ordinary Americans think of when they think about a "terrorist watch list." Now, it is proposed to be used to prohibit firearms purchases.
In May 2009, the Inspector General of the Justice Department found that 35% of the nominations to the lists were outdated, many people were not removed in a timely manner, and tens of thousands of names were placed on the list without predicate.
We can't have terrorist watch lists that affect people's rights without due process -- the right of innocent people to challenge their inclusion through an adversarial proceeding and get off the lists. But no such system has been created.
Bloated watch lists waste resources and divert their energies from looking for true terrorists. In a report from the Virginia Fusion Center leaked in April 2009, it was revealed that at least 414 encounters between suspected al-Qa'ida members and law enforcement officials were documented in the Commonwealth in 2007. Few believe there are actually more than 400 al-Qa'ida members in Virginia; more likely there were just 400+ false alarms related to bad watch list data -- which wasted innocent Virginians' time and distracted law enforcement from their mission.
The use of this bloated list with all its problems as a method to restrict a Constitution right is simply wrong. No one wants terrorists to be able to buy guns - and anyone on the list who isn't a citizen (or LPR) can't buy a firearm under current law anyway. Anyone on the list with a criminal background cannot buy a firearm under current law anyway. Anyone on the list who tries to buy a gun outside of their home state will be denied anyway. The use of the list to prohibit firearms purchases will only adversely affect US Citizens - many who are on the list by mistake or have a name similar to someone on the list.
Should those US Citizens with names suspiciously similar to someone on the terrorist watch list also be prohibited from voting? have their rights to free speech revoked? not be entitle to petition for redress? be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment? forced to quarter soldiers?
How many Constitutional rights do we want to take away because a name (or similar name) is on a bloated and dysfunctional government list??
