There is a dangerous gap in federal law that allows persons on the FBI's terror watch list to freely purchase guns and other deadly weapons. It's called the Terror Gap, and it's why today, I'm supporting the Congressional testimony of Sandy Jo MacArthur, assistant Chief at the LAPD, as she makes the case, on behalf of law enforcement officers nationwide, that it's time to close the Terror Gap.
Today we want to send a simple, common sense message: If someone is too dangerous to fly on a plane in this country, that person is too dangerous to buy explosives and guns.
Our national and local law enforcement officers work day and night, steadfastly safeguarding our communities. We owe it to them to meet their brave commitment with the tools they need to fight the relentless efforts of terrorists to inflict harm.
The Terror Gap refers to existing federal law that allows suspected terrorists to purchase firearms and explosives, even if the FBI has placed him or her on its terror watch list. That's because even though the FBI administers the federal background check for all gun purchases and explosives permits, the FBI cannot stop the sale to a suspected terrorist.
So even though the FBI knows every single time a person on the terror watch list tries to buy a gun or explosives, its agents must stand by, powerless, as the suspected terrorist purchases the gun. In fact, they were forced to stand by 865 times in five years - an average of over three times per week - as terror suspects applied to buy guns and explosives.
The consequences of this gap in the law are real. Every day, Los Angeles and every city and town in America lives with the constant threat of terrorism:
1999: The government thwarts a plan to blow up Los Angeles International Airport and other targets on New Years Eve.
2001: The United States suffers the worst terrorist attack in history.
2002: The government stops an Al Qaeda plot to fly a plane into the U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angeles, the tallest building on the West Coast. This was to be part of a "second wave" attack that was to come after the attacks of September 11th.
2003: Terrorist Hesham Hadayet shoots and kills two innocent bystanders and wounds four others in the Los Angeles airport before being killed himself. Hadayet had purchased a gun that he used in the attack
2005: Terrorists plan to bomb several California military bases, synagogues and an Israeli consulate. They intended to kill U.S. military personnel.
2009: A man under investigation for ties to terrorism opens fire on Fort Hood military base, killing 13 soldiers and wounding 30 others.
We must use every tool at our disposal to prevent these devastating acts of violence. Our government has strengthened its anti-terrorism intelligence and created a terror watch list to stop the most dangerous terror suspects from boarding our planes.
But we still can't stop terrorists from buying explosives, assault rifles, and high-powered handguns.
That can change. The Terror Gap is as dangerous and nonsensical as it is easy to fix.
Legislation to close this Terror Gap is pending now in Congress. To learn more, go to www.terrorgap.org.The legislation would give the FBI discretion to stop a terror suspect from purchasing guns. It also has safeguards for people who are misidentified as terror suspects. It's important that we give our national and local law enforcement officers every tool possible so that they can do their job and keep us safe.
This is an issue for cities and towns across America. That's why I joined the bipartisan coalition of Mayors Against Illegal Guns and support legislation to close this Terror Gap.
Join me in asking Congress to close the Terror Gap today:
Follow Antonio Villaraigosa on Twitter: www.twitter.com/villaraigosa
Michael R. Bloomberg: Terror Suspects Are Buying Guns - and the FBI Can't Stop Them
Paul Helmke: Terrorists: No Planes, But Guns Okay
Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence : Terror Gap
Editorial - The 'Terror Gap' - NYTimes.com
Mayors Against Illegal Guns - Closing the Gun Purchase Terror Gap
McCain's Silence on "Terror Gap" In Gun Law - Newsweek.com
Critics Point to 'Terror Gap' in Gun-Control Laws - Declassified ...
Bloomberg to Fight the 'Terror Gap' in Washington -- Daily Intel
So let me just come out and say it: this "terror blacklist" raises grave constitutional and civil liberty concerns, it should never have been established, it should never have been allowed to continue, and it should not be expanded. The NRA is right on this one. Anyone who thinks that transparency and equality have any importance in our society should oppose blacklists on all levels.
Instead of attacking the hypocrisy that emerges when the issue is "guns" and the blacklist, we should all be gathering ammunition to fight the anti-American (yes I mean that) Patriot Act. I am amazed it has taken this long.
http://www.aclu.org/national-security/aclu-calls-overhaul-aviation-watch-lists-wake-60-minutes-report
What I find most . . . reprehensible? . . . is that there is not one sponsored blog post around here that opposes secret government blacklists. The attitude seems to be, "well sure this is wrongful, but wrongful practices are OK as long as they're directed against the interests of other people."
Since you obviously support denying american citizens their right to due process regading the terror gap issue, can we also assume that you have no problem with AZ's immigration law which allows police-state tactics based on law-enforcement "presuming" that all mexicans are here illegally and subjecting them to arbitrary persecution?
How 'bout the detainees in Gitmo? Certainly you don't believe they should have any due process rights since they're not even american citizens, right?
It's funny watching them dance though. Curve, step step...curve, step step....
* The rate of firearm deaths among kids under age 15 is almost 12 times higher in the United States than in 25 other industrialized countries combined. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
* American kids are 16 times more likely to be murdered with a gun, 11 times more likely to commit suicide with a gun, and nine times more likely to die from a firearm accident than children in 25 other industrialized countries combined. (Centers for Disease Control)
(of 477m passenger trips) 120
American children are more at risk from firearms than the children of any other industrialized nation. In one year, firearms killed no children in Japan, 19 in Great Britain, 57 in Germany, 109 in France, 153 in Canada, and 5,285 in the United States. (Centers for Disease Control)
A: Flying on a plane
B: Owning a gun.
Makes sense to me.
This has been brought up numerous times before. First of all, there are about 13 different "terror watch lists" each maintained by a different agency, to include the "no fly list". There is no universal criteria for placing someone on any of these lists. These are compiled into one master list called the TSDB. There are about a million names on the TSDB and about 400,000 individuals. These lists primarily work off of names only. This is slowly changing to include biometrics and physical descriptions, but this is going to take years to change. According to the GAO and FBI, the fast majority of the names in the TSDB, as much as 90%, are people who have never committed a crime and don't actually have any ties to terrorism.
Using the terror watch lists or no fly list to deny people their rights is an unconstitutional violation of due process.
Those people who want to use the TSDB or the "no fly list" to curtail people's rights want to circumvent the whole concept of due process. How would they feel if their right to vote was curtailed on the same basis?”
Don't think so.
Nope. That is your misreading of what I wrote.