GunsBloomberg group presses lawmakers to close FBI’s gun “terror gap”
New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg’s group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, has turned its attention to Senators Kelly Ayotte (R-New Hampshire), Jeff Flake (R-Arizona), and Max Baucus (D-Montana) to gain their support for a gun bill which would prevent people on the U.S. terrorist watch list from passing background checks for guns.
New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg’s group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, has turned its attention to Senators Kelly Ayotte (R-New Hampshire), Jeff Flake (R-Arizona), and Max Baucus (D-Montana) to gain their support for a gun bill which would prevent people on the U.S. terrorist watch list from passing background checks for guns.
The Hill reports that under current law, people on the FBI’s terrorist no fly list are not included in the bureau’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). Gun control supporters say this omission makes it possible for terrorists legally to purchase guns through a federally licensed dealer.
Bloomberg’s group, with the support of gun owners and military veterans, yesterday and today has been handing petitions to the senators, asking them to support the legislation.
The Hill notes that between 2004 and 2009, 963 background checks matched terror watch list names through NICS. A Government Accountability Office study reported that almost 90 percent of those matches were allowed to go ahead with purchasing a firearm, and about 10 percent were denied as a result of other red flags which did not include being on the watch-list.
The three senators the Bloomberg’s group has focused on are considered to be the most likely to change their vote to support a gun control bill if it reaches the Senate. All three voted against a gun control measure earlier this year.
Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-New Jersey) has repeatedly introduced a measure which would expand the Justice Department’s authority to deny a suspected terrorist the right to purchase a gun, and would flag someone on the terrorist watch list if they tried to purchase a gun.
The National Rifle Association (NRA) opposes the bill. NRA president David Keene argues that “There’s no evidence terrorists are buying guns.”
The fact that the NICS does not include individuals whose names appear on the terror watch-list first came to light in 2009, when Nidal Hasan killed thirteen people and wounded thirty more during a shooting spree at Fort Hood, Texas. Lawmakers say that if Hasan was on the terrorist watch list and the “terror gap” was closed, he would have not been able to acquire the gun he used in the shooting as easily. Hasan bought the gun legally at a firearms store.
