He's in even deeper shit than he was before, alienating one of the GOP's core constituencies and taking up on an issue that should (IMO) on principle be of great concern to moderates and progressives as well.
BELLEVUE, WA – Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ troubling support of legislation that would allow him and future attorneys general the arbitrary power to block firearms purchases without due process is cause for him to step down as the nation’s highest ranking law enforcement officer, the Second Amendment Foundation said today.
The bill, S. 1237, was introduced last week at the Justice Department’s request by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), one of the most extreme anti-gunners in Congress. Called the “Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2007,” this legislation would give the Attorney General discretionary authority to deny the purchase of a firearm or the issuance of a firearm license or permit because of some vague suspicion that an American citizen may be up to no good.
“This bill,” said SAF founder Alan Gottlieb, “raises serious concerns about how someone becomes a ‘suspected terrorist.’ Nobody has explained how one gets their name on such a list, and worse, nobody knows how to get one’s name off such a list.
“The process by which someone may appeal the Attorney General’s arbitrary denial seems weak at best,” Gottlieb suggested, “and there is a greater concern. When did we decide as a nation that it is a good idea to give a cabinet member the power to deny someone’s constitutional right simply on suspicion, without a trial or anything approaching due process?Link to SAF press release from 5/1:
http://www.saf.org/viewpr-new.asp?id=223Whatever your personal views on firearms or your opinion of the SAF or Alan Gottlieb, granting an appointed bureaucrat the power to deny you a civil right based on a secret list over which you have no recourse, is just plain wrong.
Senator Kennnedy is a co-sponsor of the bill, which has not yet reached the GPO so the text is not available. Here is the summary from
http://www.thomas.gov :
S.1237
Title: A bill to increase public safety by permitting the Attorney General to deny the transfer of firearms or the issuance of firearms and explosives licenses to known or suspected dangerous terrorists.
Sponsor: Sen Lautenberg, Frank R. (introduced 4/26/2007) Cosponsors (1)
Latest Major Action: 4/26/2007 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.People who have followed the issue of "terrorism watch lists" will recognize this as one that has been tried before. I'm not in favor of letting bad guys have guns or firearms licenses or explosives, but we cannot abandon due process especially when the Bush administration is still in power.
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