NRA pushes to protected suspected terrorists' right to own guns

[ShaneGR]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/05/04/nra.terror.ap/index.html

(snip)
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The National Rifle Association is urging the Bush administration to withdraw its support of a bill that would prohibit suspected terrorists from buying firearms.

Backed by the Justice Department, the measure would give the attorney general the discretion to block gun sales, licenses or permits to terror suspects.

In a letter this week to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, NRA executive director Chris Cox said the bill, offered last week by Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-New Jersey, "would allow arbitrary denial of Second Amendment rights based on mere 'suspicions' of a terrorist threat."

[Erika]

1. Bush can toss us in jail forever based on suspicions

but this organization wants gun rights for suspects?

The NRA was once respected. It no longer is because of its extreme views.

[murloc]

2. Its the exact same issue - due process

The NRA is 100% correct.

Interestingly, to disagree with the NRA on -this- particular issue is to agree with Bush and Gonzales.

[SteveM]

6. Oh, please re-consider. This is another abuse.

You probably are aware of it by now, but Gonzalez asked Sen. Gutenberg to carry the GOP slop bucket on this constitutional abuse. Interestingly, Ted Kennedy was on a similar "no-fly" list; he couldn't figure out how he got on it, couldn't figure out how to get off of it. And there was NO due process. Similarly, Gonzalez (who wants more authoritarian rule) and Gutenberg (who wants gun confiscation at any cost) teamed up to expand that list to infringe on 2A. That's why Gottlieb of the Second Amendment Foundation has said that the attorney general should resign. By the way, is it OK to revoke 2A rights on "suspicions," but not to jail people?

[originalpckelly]

11. Yeah, I know, you'd think Kennedy would have enough common sense to figure this out.

:eyes:

Bush and Gonzo just want more power, and our own fucking people are too stupid to realize that.

[benEzra]

13. ...considering that he himself was on that list at one point, and only got off it

because he is a Senator and had the pull to MAKE people take his name off.

[virginia mountainman]

3. Stop and THINK, for just a moment

In a letter this week to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, NRA executive director Chris Cox said the bill, offered last week by Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-New Jersey, "would allow arbitrary denial of Second Amendment rights based on mere 'suspicions' of a terrorist threat."

THINK ABOUT IT....Do you REALLY WANT Alberto Gonzales, to be able too arbitrarily add your name to a list?? Think about the No-Fly list fiasco. Some on the "right" consider protests a form of "terrorism", do you really want to give them anymore power than they already have??

Don't forget that Senator Kennedy, was on a no-fly list, he was able to use his position to get off of it, but what about the rest of us????

Do you REALLY want to allow this repuke administration the power, with the swipe of a pen, to eliminate a right, with no judge, no jury, NO CRIME other than a similar sounding name??

EDIT, added some clarification

[Jack_DeLeon]

4. If you complain about the "no-fly" list you shouldnt complain about this...

because it would be hypocracy.

We are innocent until proven guilty by a court of law.

[jody]

5. If the ACLU is true to its stated mission, it will join the NRA on this issue because the proposed

bill authorizes the Attorney General to unilateraly place people on watch lists and deny them inalienable rights that our federal government is obligated to protect under our Constitution.

ON EDIT ADD:
The NRA letter is here, http://www.nraila.org/media/PDFs/NRA_ltr_gonzales.pdf

[benEzra]

7. The defenders of BushCo's Secret Terrah Watch Lists are coming out of the woodwork...

don't forget that antiwar activists, environmentalists, and even Senator Edward Kennedy himself are among those the admin calls "suspected terrorists." We're not talking about actual terrorism suspects, we're talking about people on the Bush admin's secret watch lists.

It's ironic that many of the same people who oppose secret watch lists, secret evidence evaluated by secret tribunals, and lack of due process or appeal, become supporters of Gonzales and the administration as soon as Gonzo added the word "gun" to the "OMG terrah!" song and dance...

As someone pointed out in the other thread, the administration's secret terrah watch lists include antiwar activists and people placed on the list just to meet a quota, as well as people put on the list as babies.

No-fly blacklist snares political activists

One detainment forced a group of 20 Wisconsin anti-war activists to miss their flight, delaying their trip to meet with congressional representatives by a day. That case and others are raising questions about the criteria federal authorities use to place people on the list -- and whether people who exercise their constitutional right to dissent are being lumped together with terrorists.

I, for one, don't want to live in a country where Alberto "no such thing as habeus corpus" Gonzales gets to deny people basic rights because he or his cronies deem them possibly subversive--and remember that those "subversive activities" include antiwar activism, advocacy of environmental causes, etc.

[karlrschneider]

10. Habeus corpus and that "quaint" notion of Geneva Conventions.

:eyes:

[tjwash]

8. I remember the good old days when you had to actually commit a crime to break the law.

I guess the Bush Administration is going back to the good old days of when "SHE'S A WITCH!! BURN HER!!" was all the due process you would get.

So I have to agree with the NRA on this one...

[karlrschneider]

9. So you want Bush or Gonzo to decide who is a SUSPECTED terrorist?

That's like Hitler deciding who was a suspected Jew.

[originalpckelly]

12. I know, to see a DUer ever contemplate an extra power for the government...

of the BFEE and to even go so far as couching it in the "suspected terrorist" bullshit.

[Paladin]

14. Like I've Said Elsewhere......

...it's nice to see all you gun militants finally getting outraged about Alberto Gonzales. Better late than never.....

[karlrschneider]

15. Bullshit. We've been on his case since way before he became AG.

...

[benEzra]

16. Gun owners have been yelling about this clown since the beginning...

due to his well-known support for new gun bans and his contempt for civil liberties in general. Remember when his name was even being floated for the Supreme Court? We were all over that one on the gun boards, and I'm sure Congress and the admin got an earful as well.

As scary as Gonzales is as AG, he would be even scarier on the USSC...

[spoony]

17. and I'm sure Gonzo is happy to see

anti-gun militants finally seeing his side of things. Better late than never...

[EstimatedProphet]

18. Who have you been listening to?

I can't think of anyone on DU that has ever supported Gonzo, gun owner or not.