Posted on 05/01/2007 12:47:00 PM PDT by Carry_Okie
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?
“We’re not surprised that General Gonzales has found an agreeable sponsor in Frank Lautenberg,” Gottlieb observed. “The senator from New Jersey has never seen a restrictive gun control scheme he did not immediately embrace, and S. 1237 is loaded with red flags. It would allow an appointed bureaucrat the authority to suspend or cancel someone’s Second Amendment right without even being charged with a crime.
“Attorney General Gonzales has no business asking for that kind of power over any tenet in the Bill of Rights,” Gottlieb said. “He took an oath to uphold the Constitution, not trample it. Perhaps it is time for him to go.”
And desperately attempting to create tens of millions of new Democrat voters (by granting amnesty to illegal aliens) is just one of them. If the Prez jumps on the gun-grabbing bandwagon led by the likes of Lautenberg, Kennedy, and Schumer you can pencil in a Dem victory in '08 right now.
LOL! Close, but that was not targeting named individuals, nor was it at the discretion of the Attorney General.
I remember when Bush said that.
Somebody should tell him it's parchment, not paper.
The bill is not available to look at so I’ll disregard whether it is constitutionally sound.
it’s obvious effect would be to provide terrorists with a simple means of discovering whether they were under suspicion...
Just try to buy a gun!
“He took an oath to uphold the Constitution, not trample it. Perhaps it is time for him to go.”
While I supported Gonzales for firing a few U.S. attorneys (but wondered why he did not have the necessary backbone to support himself against naysayers), now I see that he is little more then just another un-American, Constitution bashing, liberal punk. I was afraid of that when Bush picked him. Now we know.
So, okay, enough of this gun-grabbing bullshit! He is advocating a major violation of the Constitution (Bill of Rights). Send him to the front of the line: the unemployment line.
Alito was his second choice, Harriet Miers was his first choice if you remember.
I miss the “A” Team
This is not enough for Bush to do anything. It was said that Bush is more loyal to his friends than he is to his party. Dont know how true that is. I guess we will see
And the shredding of our Constitution continues.
Indeed. The seeds of tyranny are beginning to sprout.
We're getting the "F" Troop.
Freepers ARE screaming bloody murder (to prevent bloody murders) over this stupidty.
More Bush errors = fewer repubbie voters. There have already been enough acts like this, starting back with McClaim Findgold ...
Amen!!
Harriet Miers & Michael, "you're doing a heck of a job" Brown
My buddy in D. C. says it’s a done deal now.
Let’s us all pray it don’t happen.
I found more about this bill (was hopin’ it wasn’t true!) on Lautenberg’s web site.
http://lautenberg.senate.gov/documents/domestic/TerrorGap/index.cfm
Closing the “Terror Gap” - Terrorists Access to Guns
On Thursday, April 26, 2007, Senator Lautenberg introduced legislation to prohibit terrorist suspects from purchasing firearms, mirroring an Administration plan released yesterday. The bill seeks to close the “terror gap” in federal gun law by giving the Attorney General the power to block gun sales to terror suspects. Under current federal gun law, there is no provision to deny suspected terrorists from purchasing a firearm.
Under the federal Brady Act, a licensed firearms dealer must request a background check through the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) before an unlicensed individual may purchase a weapon. However, even if a NICS check reveals that the prospective purchaser is a known or suspected terrorist, nothing in current law prevents that person from purchasing a gun unless he or she meets one of the other disqualifying factors, including felony or domestic abuse convictions.
In January 2005, the GAO produced a report to Sens. Lautenberg and Biden (D-DE) that found that from February 3 to June 30, 2004, a total of 44 firearm purchase attempts were made by individuals designated as known or suspected terrorists by the federal government. In 35 cases, the FBI authorized the transactions to proceed because FBI field agents were unable to find any disqualifying information (such as felony convictions or illegal immigrant status) within the federally prescribed three business days.
Following the GAO report in March 2005, Sen. Lautenberg wrote letters to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and FBI Director Robert Mueller requesting recommendations on existing laws and Department of Justice (DOJ) regulations permitting terrorists to purchase guns and, in response to the Senator’s request, the DOJ created a department-wide working group that eventually produced a series of recommendations. That working group produced the legislative recommendations that Lautenberg introduced last night.
This week — more than two years later — DOJ recommended the introduction of the “Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2007.” The Administration’s recommendation came only following last week’s tragedy at Virginia Tech and the day before Director Mueller’s testimony in front of Sen. Lautenberg at a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on the FBI’s 2008 budget.
Sen. Lautenberg’s measure – the “Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2007” – specifically:
* Provides the Attorney General with discretionary authority to deny the transfer of a firearm or the issuance of a firearm or explosives license or permit when a background check reveals that the purchaser is a known or suspected terrorist and the Attorney General reasonably believes that the person may use a firearm or explosives in connection with terrorism;
* Includes due process safeguards that afford an affected person an opportunity to challenge a denial by the Attorney General; and
* Protects the sensitive information upon which terrorist watch list listings are based.
Should this new measure become law, it would be the first change to the Brady Law since Sen. Lautenberg’s 1996 law that has kept more than 150,000 guns out of the hands of domestic abusers.
Relevant Documents:
* GAO produced a report to Sens. Lautenberg and Biden (D-DE)
* Senator Lautenberg’s 2005 Letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
* Senator Lautenberg’s 2005 Letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller
* Senator’s request to the DOJ to create a department-wide working group
* DOJ’s Working Group Recommendations
* DOJ recommended the introduction of the “Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2007
* Video Clip of Director Mueller responding to Senator Lautenberg on Destruction of Background Check Data at the Appropriations Committee Hearing (April 26, 2007)
* Senator Lautenberg’s Bill: Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2007
Do you think this should be breaking news?
Well if not him than who? He is certainly a very competent and able AG. /Heavy Sarcasm
Is there a 'really crappy news' section?
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