Conservative Republicans Want to Deprive Terrorists of All Rights — Except Right to Buy Guns

[marmar]

via AlterNet:



Posted by stevebenen at 1:14 pm
May 6, 2010

Conservative Republicans Want to Deprive Terrorists of All Rights — Except Right to Buy Guns

This post originally appeared on the Washington Monthly.


‘TERRORISTS AND GUNS’…. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) has been pushing a bill that seems pretty reasonable — if you’re on the FBI terror watch list, you should be ineligible to buy weapons in the U.S. Law enforcement has long supported the proposal, but Congress keeps rejecting it.

The Senate Homeland Security Committee held a hearing on the subject yesterday, and as Gail Collins noted, it didn’t go well.

“I think you’re going too far here,” said Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina at a hearing of the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday. He was speaking in opposition to a bill that would keep people on the F.B.I. terrorist watch list from buying guns and explosives.

Say what?

Yes, if you are on the terrorist watch list, the authorities can keep you from getting on a plane but not from purchasing an AK-47. This makes sense to Congress because, as Graham accurately pointed out, “when the founders sat down and wrote the Constitution, they didn’t consider flying.”

The subject of guns turns Congress into a twilight zone. People who are perfectly happy to let the government wiretap phones go nuts when the government wants to keep track of weapons permits. A guy who stands up in the House and defends the torture of terror suspects will nearly faint with horror at the prospect of depriving someone on the watch list of the right to purchase a pistol.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said, “Let me emphasize that none of us wants a terrorist to be able to purchase a gun.” She then proceeded to explain her opposition to a bill that would prevent those on the terrorist watch list from purchasing guns.

The NYT’s Gail Collins added, “There seems to be a strong sentiment in Congress that the only constitutional right suspected terrorists have is the right to bear arms.”

That’s a good line, but it’s also an important point. Conservative Republicans have spent the week reminding us of their firm belief that terrorist suspects should be afforded no rights at all. Miranda? Don’t bother. Citizenship? Probably not. Due process? That’s pre-9/11 thinking.

But if you’re on the terrorist watch list and want to stock up on automatic rifles, conservative Republicans will do whatever it takes to make sure you can do just that.

Keep in mind, the terrorist watch list is admittedly flawed. But Lautenberg’s proposal would allow those on the list to challenge their inclusion, and if cleared, to then be able to purchase firearms like everyone else. For the GOP, that’s asking too much.

Even now, when a given a choice between being “tough on terror” and offending the NRA, Republicans are loath to consider the latter, even at the expense of the former.


http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/05/06/conservative-republicans-want-to-deprive-terrorists-of-all-rights-except-right-to-buy-guns/

[xchrom]

1. Recommend

[bluethruandthru]

2. Geez these people scare me more than terrorists! n/a

[metalbot]

8. I'm a lot more afraid of government lists that strips you of rights than terrorists

There's fundamentally NOT a way to challenge the list. It's just a bunch of names. There's no evidence against people on the list that would hold up in court (or we'd have already arrested them). Would you have to go to court to take your name off the list? Hire a lawyer? Or would you fill out a form that says "I'm not a terrorist, please take me off the list" and send it in?

Are there any other rights we should strip away from people on the list? Why not allow the police to search their homes without warrant or set up wiretaps without a warrant? After all, they are on the "terrorist" list. Wouldn't giving the police unlimited powers against these people be more effective than not allowing them to buy guns from a dealer (since they'd be free to buy a gun from anyone who is not a licensed firearms dealer)? Should a terrorist really have the right to not incriminate themselves? How far down this slope do you want to slide?

[Submariner]

3. The republican thought process must be from a birth defect

Can we fund medicine to find a cure for these twisted dipsticks?

[Baalath]

4. I think I agree with Congress on this.

I worry that someone else might be in power some day who doesn't like my ideas and slaps me on a "watch" list. No trial, no recourse, no nothing. What rights could they just take away from me because I MIGHT do something illegal in the future and I am suspcious acting.

I always try to think how I would feel about a law when someone I hated was in power.

I think Lieberman is out of his mind to start stripping people of citizenship, for the same reason.

[KharmaTrain]

5. They're Painted In The Corner...

Ya gotta love when their Constitution conflicts with their Constitution. The 2nd ammendment trumps all. Or else! There's no lobby with such tentacles firmly gripped on the GOOP than the NRA...even if it means making it easy for any real "terrorists"...foreign and domestic to buy weapons. It also looks the other way to the massive arms trafficking that goes on across the southern border that results in thousands of dead Mexicans and is fueling not only the drug smugglers but those dealing in the white slavery trade and smuggling that the draconian AZ law will only encourage.

[DonP]

6. Gee, a secret list started by Bush, with no due process to get off the list...

... and no way of even confirming if you are on the list. You haven't been convicted or even formally accused of anything. What could possibly go wrong with that.

So the government can decide to randomly deny your rights. Can't buy a gun, fine. Can't travel - fine. Can't vote - hey wait a minute ... too late now. You're on the "Terrah watch list" and we don't like guns so fuck you anyway.

After all, we all know there will never, ever be another GOP congress or administration that would abuse a list.

[MadHound]

7. Have to side with the Congressional 'Pugs on this one

Depriving one of their rights simply for being a name on an unaccountable list is unconstitutional. No trial, no jury, no confrontation of one's accuser, but you can be deprived of your rights, nope, sorry, that doesn't fly.

When we had this list under Bush, people around here complained about it mightily, with justification. So if it was so bad then, why should we trust it now?

[benEzra]

10. It was the Bush Administration's idea to start with...

Congress refused to go along.

[AlinPA]

11. It seems mentally ill persons are denied their rights to guns in the same way.

[benEzra]

9. This crap was a REPUBLICAN proposal.

Denying gun rights to anyone placed on the secret Bush blacklists was championed by none other than Alberto "No Such Thing as Habeus Corpus" Gonzales, Bush's Attorney General, who was as dismissive of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments as he was of the Second Amendment.

I guess secret blacklists are OK if you shout "Terrah!! Gunz!!" instead of just "Terrah!!", right?