NYT: Guns for Terrorists

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/04/opinion/04mon1.html?hp

If a background check shows that you are an undocumented immigrant, federal law bars you from buying a gun. If the same check shows that you have ties to Al Qaeda, you are free to buy an AK-47. That is the absurd state of the nation's gun laws, and a recent government report revealed that terrorist suspects are taking advantage of it. There are a few promising signs, however, that the federal government is considering injecting some sanity into policies on terror suspects and guns.

The Government Accountability Office examined F.B.I. and state background checks for gun sales during a five-month period last year. It found 44 checks in which the prospective buyer turned up on a government terrorist watch list. A few of these prospective buyers were denied guns for other disqualifying factors, like a felony conviction or illegal immigration status. But 35 of the 44 people on the watch lists were able to buy guns.

The encouraging news is that the G.A.O. report may be prodding Washington to act. The F.B.I. director, Robert Mueller III, has announced that he is forming a study group to review gun sales to terror suspects. In a letter to Senator Frank Lautenberg, the New Jersey Democrat, Mr. Mueller said that the new working group would review the national background check system in light of the report. We hope this group will take a strong stand in favor of changes in the law to deny guns to terror suspects.

[lenidog]

1. Sounds like a simple problem to solve

you have to tie in the watch list with the national background system. I don't know if these idiots recall but one of the problems mentioned in the 9/11 commissions reports is that the various federal bureaus don't talk to each other. If they haven't committed a crime then the ATF wont deny them and since the ATF technically doesn't deal with terrorists usually then they wont have access to the watch list to put into their system.