Photo via The Atlantic.

 

There’s been a lot of talk about stripping Constitutional protections, including the right to keep and bear arms, from those on the badly flawed secret U.S. Government terror watch list.  It’s the newest scheme of those seeking to take guns away from still more law-abiding Americans.

Not everyone in the media is falling for the heated rhetoric aimed at everyday Americans who aren’t involved in politics.

So much for innocent-’til-proven-guilty

By Tom Jackson | Tampa Tribune Staff
Published: November 23, 2015

Suppose there were some ultra-classified list maintained by the authorities — sort of a double-secret probation register for the government — and you had no way to discover whose name was on it (yours could be there, for all you know), what constituted a triggering incident, or how the innocent could be exonerated.

If such a thing existed, how would we feel about authorities stripping those on the list of their constitutional rights? I mean, it’s one thing to keep such people out of airplanes — no one has an absolute right to fly commercially — and otherwise to maintain a wary eye on their activities. But, remember, we’re talking about mere suspects; they haven’t been convicted, or arrested, or even accused of anything. They’re simply people who might, based on unknown — possibly sketchy — evidence, be up to something.

Should they still be able to worship where they please, or gather with others to criticize the government? Should we allow police to stop and frisk them anytime, anywhere? Should they be allowed to insist on a search warrant before a SWAT team barges through their front door? Would it be OK if we jailed them for months at a time without specifying charges, or setting a trial date or allowing them to consult a lawyer?

If none of that would be OK, if all of those constitutional guarantees we hold dear for anyone presumed innocent — as, ostensibly, suspects of all crimes are — should remain intact, then why is anyone even listening to Democrats and some addle-headed Republicans who want to suspend the Second Amendment for those whose names are on the FBI’s terror watch list?

I know. Because guns.

New York Sen. Charles Schumer calls the ability of “suspected or known terrorists” to purchase firearms “an appalling loophole.” In reality, it’s called the “Fifth Amendment,” which staunchly defends individuals from being denied “life, liberty or property” without due process.

If folks are “known terrorists,” to borrow Schumer’s presumably flawless insight, what are they doing mingling among us? Let’s haul them in. Let’s get the wheels of justice turning. Arrest, arraign and set their bail. While we await their trials, confiscate their weapons, block their access to gun shows (but do we really think the Paris killers — the impetus for this fresh assault on the Constitution — obtained their weapons by exploiting a “loophole”?), monitor their conversations and debrief their pals and pastors.

The National Rifle Association (and other, smaller gun rights groups such as Guns Save Life) continue to take heat from the mainstream media and politicians for opposing their hare-brained proposal marketed as “common sense” in this NewSpeak time of Big Brother.

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In reality, this is the NRA’s position:

“The NRA’s only objective is to ensure that Americans who are wrongly on the list are afforded their constitutional right to due process.  It is appalling that anti-gun politicians are exploiting the Paris terrorist attacks to push their gun-control agenda and distract from President Obama’s failed foreign policy.”

There are flaws and then some with the “Terror Watch List”:

 “… even the Huffington Post – rarely one to take NRA’s side in an argument – last year warned its readers of “7 Ways You (Yes You) Could End Up On A Terrorist Watch List.” The list, which has reportedly ballooned to a million names, and has included the likes of former South African President Nelson Mandela, Sen. Ted Kennedy and even a two-year-old child, is rife with errors.

We have discussed again and again the serious problems and constitutional violations inherent in denying people their Second Amendment rights based on inclusion in Terrorist Watchlist. Those who are on the list are not even supposed to know, and if they become aware of (or come to suspect) their listing, they have very little recourse to challenge it.

So, the question is:  Would you feel better knowing your government could strip you of your constitutional rights, without any due process protections, and without you being allowed an opportunity for recourse to appeal the decision?

That’s what some anti-gun, would-be tyrant Democrats are proposing.

What’s next, internment camps for those on the terror watch list, sort of like Democrats established for Japanese-Americans at the onset of World War II?

 

5 thoughts on “NEWEST GUN GRAB SCHEME: Rabidly anti-gun Democrats call Constitutional protections “an appalling loophole””
  1. Yet these same Democrats want to bring in Muslim males from Syria. Unskilled in anything except Islam and terror, that is.

  2. I bet you won’t see convicted terrorist, Bill Ayers, who just happens to be a best buddy of the Head Numbnuts Mustlim In Charge on that list!

  3. This is classic Saul Alinsky tactics. The same word means different things to different people.

    When we say “terrorist”, we mean Islamic radicals beheading, burning, drowning, raping and torturing innocents.

    When they say “terrorist”, they mean us!

    I just want to be left alone. What the hell is wrong with these people?

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