Fifteen months ago
I addressed a Rahm Emanuel clip from before the 2008 election that suggested using the no-fly terrorist watch list as a basis for denying gun ownership to a large number of individuals. The issues with this proposal are:
- Gun ownership is a constitutionally enumerated and protected right which ought not be abridged without due process. The no-fly list ain't due process.
- The no-fly list is a joke. It is a list of names and lacks truly unique identifiers. This means that the false positive rate is ridiculous (just ask my wife's uncle). It can also be easily foiled by such simple linguistic tricks as alternate name spellings.
- Buying a gun from a dealer requires a background check. Anyone on the no-fly list ought to be flagged for further review anyway.
Spearheaded by NYC Mayor Bloomberg, the left has picked up on this concept again after the Times Square non-bombing and is running with it. If you'd like to read more, here are some links in order of occurrence:
3 comments:
Seriously? The same no-fly list that UTTERLY FAILED to keep the Times Square bomber off a plane, the one thing it was DESIGNED TO DO? You would have to be a fool to even suggest that the no-fly list is working at its intended job. Suggesting that we rely on it to do something it was never intended to do makes Mayor Bloomberg look like some kind of emergent strain of super-fool.
Technically the Times Square bomber wasn't on the no-fly list. Somehow he managed to get his name off of it, probably by annoying his congressman.
The good news about gun rights is that it's a political battle that we appear to be winning.
I doubt that this proposal could make it through Congress, but it wouldn't surprise me if Obama tried to enact it through regulation, rather than legislation.
Post a Comment