It seems that Republicans who are now using the events in Paris to urge banning all Syrian refugees from coming into the country (except perhaps in cases where they can prove they’re Christian), and are talking about how the administration is bungling the war on terrorism and ISIS, actally don’t want to do a full court press. Like kids who get to school without their homework, they’re responding to a major step they won’t take take to help keep Americans safe by saying: “I forgot.” or “What homework was due?”
The New York Daily News notes that the NRA and Republicans are (again) teaming up to block a gun law — this one aimed at keeping terrorists from buying guns in the U.S:
The NRA — and their gun-loving Republican cohorts — are refusing once more to stop terrorists intent on getting armed in the U.S.A.
A legal loophole allows suspected terrorists on the government’s no-fly list to legally buy guns, but a bill to fix that will likely wither on the vine. The federal Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act, even in the wake of last week’s terrorist killing of 129 people in Paris, remains a long shot due to its rabid pro-gun opponents.
“Anything which they feel restricts the use or the ability to retain a gun they’re opposed to,” bill co-sponsor Rep. Pete King (R-L.I.) told the Daily News.
“It’s sort of a knee-jerk reaction,” he said Tuesday. “The National Rifle Association is strongly opposed to it and the fact is we have only a handful of Republican co-sponsors.”
As I always say:
In “knee-jerk,” the emphasis is almost always on the last word. Why, this MUST be an idea that one of the liberals Rush and Sean rail against (which means any Democrat). But wait! It came from GWB’s administration:
The legislation was initially proposed in 2007 by the Bush administration, with King formally introducing the bill in Congress two years later.
Currently, some known or suspected terrorists are prohibited from boarding airplanes by the government’s no-fly list — but all are allowed to buy assault rifles and other weapons.
While the bill remained a nonstarter, more than 2,000 suspects on the FBI’s Terrorist Watchlist bought weapons in the U.S. over the last 11 years, according to the federal Government Accountability Office.
The GAO reported that 91% of all suspected terrorists who tried to buy guns in America walked away with the weapon they wanted over the time period, with just 190 rejected despite their ominous histories.In 2013-14, the number of successful buyers rose to 94% — with 455 suspects buying weapons and just 30 denied as allowed under current laws.
“It is hard to believe that anyone could defend that someone on the Terrorist Watchlist should get a gun, no questions asked,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). “I can’t believe that our Republican colleagues would block this now.”
But could this finally pass? Schumer is optimistic, which means that he knows something most of us don’t know or he has been watching the movie “Polyanna” too many times:Schumer predicted there was a “good chance” that his Republican Senate colleagues will have “no choice but to pass it, despite NRA opposition …We’re going to get it to the floor and my guess is it’ll pass.”
Meanwhile, when reporters ask Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell about this, the Senator, who normally is a weath of information virtually says “Waddyatalkinabout?”
“I’m not particularly familiar with the legislation,” McConnell insisted.
The NRA did not respond to a Tuesday request for comment, but opposed the 2009 version of the proposed law on grounds that law-abiding Americans wrongly placed on the list would lose their Second Amendment rights.
As I’ve often noted, any current or former working reporter (I am in that class) will tell you that when a person or group doesn’t respond to a request for comment, it usually means they hope an issue will go away, or by not responding the report gets little publicity.
Perhaps the NRA will soon respond to the New York Daily News on this issue. And perhaps my 21 year old cat will soon get a show on MSNBC titled “Hairball.”
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) called the proposed law a “no-brainer” in the wake of the latest terrorist carnage by ISIS killers.
I’ll resist a joke about this being a “no brainer” because it’s a case more of “no political guts.”
Their brains are in gear.
Their brains are in in gear worried about being defeated in their re-election campaigns by the NRA, even if they are ramping up their rhetoric about how the US must do more to fight ISIS, halt Syrian refugees coming into this country, and as some talk show hosts actually do segments on the US camps that forcibly housed Japanese Americans during World War II.
The country MUST be totally prepared to do more to battle and protect itself against terrorism.
But, hey EVERYBODY has a right to buy a gun. What loophole? What legislation? I’m not familiar with it… The dog ate the legislation.
If GOPers don’t prove Schumer correct and close the loophole, some terrorists using guns they bought easily in the United States due to politicians who could inspire a new book titled “Profiles in Cowardice” could take a bite out of some American’s lives.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.