It's amazing but true: we can prevent terror suspects from boarding an airplane, but the FBI doesn't have the power to block them from buying dynamite or an AK-47.
I believe strongly that they should. And so do the 500 mayors who are members of our bi-partisan coalition of Mayor Against Illegal Guns.
It is time to close the "Terror Gap" in our gun laws.
This morning I will be testifying at a hearing of the Senate Homeland Security Committee about the easy access that terror suspects have to guns and explosives. I wanted to share with lawmakers the hard-earned perspective New Yorkers have on this national security risk.
The car bomb the New York City Police Department found in Times Square on Saturday night was not the only attempted terrorist attack on our city since 9/11 -- far from it. And sadly, it won't be the last.
Since 1990, there have been more than 20 terrorists plots -- or actual attacks -- against our city.
In the last year alone, the NYPD -- working closely with federal authorities -- prevented two major planned attacks on our City. The first was last May, when the terrorists purchased guns and explosives as part of a planned attack on a Temple and Jewish Center in the Bronx.
The second was in September, when the City and federal authorities broke up a plot to detonate explosives in the New York City subway system.
And, of course, attacks and planned attacks have not been limited to New York.
Last June in Little Rock, Arkansas, a man opened fire at a military recruiting station, killing one private and wounding another. At the time of the shooting, the FBI was already investigating the man after his arrest in Yemen with a fake Somali passport. He was charged with murder and 16 counts of terrorist acts.
And on November 5, 2009, Major Nidal Hasan shot 43 people at Fort Hood -- killing 13. We know Hasan was able to buy a handgun despite having been under investigation by the FBI for links to terrorism.
The Bush Administration first proposed closing the Terror Gap in 2007. But because Congress has failed to act on that proposal, people who may want to do our country harm have been able to buy guns and explosives.
Today, the Government Accountability Office has released new data showing that suspects on the terrorism watch lists were able to buy guns and explosives from licensed US dealers 1,119 times between 2004 and 2010.
That is a serious and dangerous breach of national security.
That's why the more than 500 mayors in Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a coalition that I co-chair with Mayor Tom Menino of Boston, support legislation to close the Terror Gap. This issue is a centerpiece of the coalition's fight to strengthen the federal background check system. Today, we have launched a new website -- www.TerrorGap.org -- to help educate Congress and the public about the Terror Gap and its consequences.
This legislation would give FBI agents the authority to block terror suspects from buying guns and explosives. It would also give them the ability to make exceptions when they determine that blocking a sale might tip off a suspect who is under investigation.
And the bill also allows those on the list to appeal their status to the Justice Department -- and challenge the determination in court.
Attorney General Eric Holder supported closing the Terror Gap in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last year. And so does the vast majority of Americans.
A December poll by Republican pollster Frank Luntz found that 82% of NRA members, and 86% of other gun owners, support closing the Terror Gap.
To learn more and take action, please visit: www.TerrorGap.org.
In New York City, we are doing everything humanly possible to prevent another terrorist attack. Under Commissioner Kelly's leadership, the NYPD has developed one of the world's most advanced counter-terrorism programs. One thousand of our best officers work on counter-terrorism and intelligence efforts every day.
A key element of any smart counter-terrorism strategy is to make it harder for terrorists to strike.
That's why air passengers walk through metal detectors.
That's why our police officers randomly check bags in the subway.
That's why our police officers patrol sensitive locations.
And that's why it's just common sense to give the FBI the authority to keep terror suspects from buying guns and explosives.
Now, finally, it's time for Congress to act and fix the Terror Gap. Visit: www.TerrorGap.org.
Follow Michael R. Bloomberg on Twitter: www.twitter.com/NYCMayorsOffice
Antonio Villaraigosa: Too Dangerous to Fly on a Plane? Then Too Dangerous to Buy a Gun
Louis Klarevas: Bombing on the Analysis of the Times Square Bomb Plot
Remarks By Mayor Bloomberg On Latest Developments In Times Square Incident
In short, their jihad is against the whole sane world.
are all buying guns....how does anyone propose to sort them out.
What they can't buy, they manage to steal....so you would have to keep them locked up at Fort Knox or something.
Maybe the first thing to do would be to stop the manufacturers
from making assault weapons and selling them to anyone except the Military.
Or maybe the second thing would be to start the draft and keep those soldiers in the U.S. Give the guns to the military to protect America and maybe that would be better than taking guns away
from everybody.
As far as I am concerned.....
Give me Liberty or give me Death doesn't sound too appealing.
While I've got you here, though, a brief suggestion: perhaps someone who isn't actively arming his police forces and training them in the use of military-grade assault rifles should pick up the "gun control" lobby for you, Mayor Bloomberg.
Or, you know, we could all pretend while visiting that New York City is a sovereign micronation run by a police state dictator who really digs taking guns away from people while militarizing the police forces in order to violate the rights of search and seizure.
Heh heh. "Pretend".
You don't read much then. http://www.thearmedcitizen.com/
The problem with what you are saying is this: If the US government has enough evidence to put these people on trial or in jail then they would not be on a 'No Fly List'. As they are not in jail, that makes them no different than you or me. If they have no previous (criminal) record and are legal residents in this country, they can buy guns.
The term 'person of interest' is another lesser word for suspect, used when you don't actually have any way to legitimize that latter term but want to put a person through the media ringer. Saying someone is on the No Fly List is equally meaningless, in legal terms, although it does play well on CNN.
It has been proven repeatedly that a STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT number of the names on that list are 5 year olds or people with similar sounding/looking names-- people that are American citizens and in no way involved with Terrorism.
So you propose to prohibit their Second amendment rights? Now it's suddenly OK for you and a bunch of 'under-intellectualized' government bureaucrats to determine who is going to have the protected right to self-defense?
I have a solution. Actually do the police work that proves someone is involved in illegal activity and arrest them, otherwise you are turning our country into a second rate banana dictatorship, you troglodyte.
http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2010/05/07/should-govt-revoke-citizenship-of-americans-involved-in-terrorism/?hpt=T2
New York State policies are abhorrent and barbarous. This yields theft of service. But Gov. Paterson would rather do budget cuts. Mr.Mayor, Honorable Mayor Bloomberg, please stop him.
What is the criteria to be labeled a "TERROR SUSPECT"? Just suspicion? If the government sees you as a threat, PRESTO you are a terror suspect. No need to be proven a criminal by a court of law to have your rights taken away.
The Time Square terror idiot, was not on any watch list. So would this "Gap Closure" have helped? NO. He had propane tanks in the Nissan. I can but that at the home depot.
This is a B.S. attempt to give the government the authority to violate your rights when it feels like.
Any type of weapon in a potential †errorsit's hands is something that has to be prevented at all cost, but a noble goal in no case justifies bad means. \
Who is to say that someone on a watch list is indeed a †errorist? What is the criteria to get on such list? Mere suspicion? It happened more than once under Bush that journalists/writers ended up on such lists and weren't allowed to fly any more. Typically these were writers that were critical of the Bush Administration.
We already have the Patriot Act, that allows the President to lead troops against US citizens, detain people on mere suspicion, and seize their property. Someone protesting can be seen as a domestic †errorist, if the government "feels" intimidated.
A secret "list" created in the secrecy of a government office, without any oversight, cannot be a legal basis to revoke any right, whether it is gun ownership or any other citizen's right.
Take the hard/honest way, and change the laws. If this list-thing" is applied once it can be done with any other civil right in the future.
Think again, Mayor Bloomberg.
For political reasons that are uniquely American we now have the opportunity to fight this unconstitutional exercise of governmental power by teaming up with one of the largest and most powerful lobbying organizations in the country.
So instead of, "I can't believe the NRA would oppose this" or "oh so NOW the conservatives decide they care about due process" perhaps people should just be going, "well, at least now we have a fighting chance." More food for thought.
What is a watch-list? Something some government official created as an aid for law enforcement, because something associated with an individual raised a red flag. Millions of people are on such lists, half of them probably in error, because they happen to have a name that resembles a terrorist's name.
Now you want to use this list and start taking people's rights away, simply because they are on that list? Come on.
Incorrect statement. It should be "90% of the guns SUBMITTED FOR TRACING". This number is a small subset of the total number of guns, most of which were not submitted because it was obvious that they couldn't the traced to US markets (e.g., foreign manufacture, military origin, etc.).
The founding fathers created the second amendment for very sound reasons, it allows a person to provide food, and protection, for themselves and their family and it creates a sense of self reliance. These are important qualities that we should never give up.
How exactly is the idea of denying people their protected rights , by being arbitrarily placed on a secret governement list, as Mr Bloomberg and Sen Lautenzombie suggest ANY different from the secret govt list used by Joe McCarthy ??
I can't understand why there are so many petitions for all this "stuff" but no reaction from the government.
Annette Thiry, a HuffPost reader
WASHINGTON – Federal law enforcement officials offered no explanation Tuesday for how the suspect in the failed Times Square bombing was allowed to board an international flight despite being hunted by the FBI and placed on the government no-fly list.
WASHINGTON - The name of the Justice Department's former top criminal prosecutor turned up on the government's terror watch list.
Meet Mikey Hicks, 8: U.S. has him on watch list
Since he was 2, he has been frisked, his family delayed every time they fly
As of Nov. 2009, there are well over 1.3 million names on the list covering an alleged 400,000 unique individuals. 5% of those are US citizens or residents and 9% are on both lists according to the FBI.
There are 1,600 names suggested to it daily with over 20,000 added per month.
The qualifications to be put on the list? Classified. (Yet Hasan didn't make the list)
An audit by the DoJ found a 35% error rate based on spot checks of names on the list.
A check on 216 known terrorists found 35 who were NOT on the lists.
http://daysofourtrailers.blogspot.com/2009/11/suspected-terrorists-by-numbers.html”
Why?...for looks.
My husband, children and I were always 'randomly' selected although both of us worked for the airlines. One time it was my family and a pilot in uniform going through the secondary check while 5 Middle Eastern (no offense) ranging 20-30yrs old boarded all together - this was a few months after 9/11. We were furious, and the pilot was outraged - he almost was refused boarding for making a comment that they had 3 airline employees and two very small children being frisked while people of a "higher suspicion" should have been there instead of us.