Posted on 12/08/2001 9:49:30 PM PST by Sir Gawain
Bill Offered to Give FBI Access to Gun Records "It makes no sense to deny these records to the FBI in its ongoing investigation of the atrocities of September 11th," Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts said in a statement. Kennedy joined Sen. Charles Schumer of New York in offering the measure. Both are members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, before which Ashcroft testified on Thursday. The attorney general, in defending his decision to block the FBI from using gun documents in its probe of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, said the law does not allow investigators to review the federal records created when a buyer applies to buy a firearm. His stand drew angry words from a number of Democrats, who noted the former U.S. Republican senator from Missouri has been a longtime defender of gun rights. Asked at Thursday's hearing if he wanted the FBI to have the power to review gun records in its terror investigation, Ashcroft said he would not comment on "a hypothetical," but would be "happy to consider" any such legislation that would enable it to do so. Kennedy said on Friday the bill he and Schumer offered would do that, and called on the administration to back it. Meanwhile, the Justice Department said it would review the regulations on accessing gun-purchase records. A Justice Department official told reporters on Friday he would check with the FBI and other agencies to see if they thought there was an "operational need" to warrant a change in the law. "We are continuing this top to bottom review, so we will take a look at it now that the question has been raised," the official said.
December 7, 2001 6:56 pm EST
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A day after U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft told Congress existing law does not allow the FBI to compare the names of suspected terrorists with federal gun purchase records, two senators introduced a bill on Friday to allow such action.
I hope you're right but the media has grabbed hold of this.
Nevermind that terrorists who needed weapons probably bought them on the street.
I've never seen ANY arabs at the gun shows I've been to.
Pro-rights Dems
Baucus(ex-anti)
Z. Miller (I think)
Ben Nelson? (I heard he was)
Jim Jeffords?(Unreliable, voted right on gun shows)
And Dayton is unknown, but I think an Anti. Anti Rights GOPERS
McStain
DeWine
Lugar
John Warner
Voinovich
And that's not counting Specter, Snowe, and Collins who are not reliable.
"And so a lot of people say there's too much personal freedom. When personal freedom's being abused, you have to move to limit it. That's what we did in the announcement I made last weekend on the public housing projects, about how we're going to have weapon sweeps and more things like that to try to make people safer in their communities."
President Bill Clinton, 3/22/94,
MTV's "Enough is Enough"
"We can't be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans ..."
Bill Clinton
(USA TODAY, 11 March 1993, page 2A)
Don't be fooled by Ashcroft's present policy statements.
#1. Ashcroft basically told the congress that he could not violate present brady law.
2. He then intimated that "if" the law was changed, he would then be able to invade peoples privacy.
3. Senators then present a bill in "responce" to the A.G.s' comments.
I think it's called "hagaillian" politics, or something like that. a. create a problem. b. introduce the desired solution. b(1) the ends justify the means.
Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
As governor of Missouri, Ashcroft vetoed Concealed Carry Legislation on more than one ocassion.
Do NOT be fooled by his political posturing.
He Wanted the Power to circumvent brady law restrictions on using NICS records to investigate "trouble makers."
He now may very well get it.
Without EXPLICIT provisions limiting NICS checks to non-citizen suspect terrorists, and provisions limiting the time this exception will be allowed, and a Fully Explicit Termination condition, this legislation will be ABUSED by the A.G. office, Justice dept., and government in general.
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