[Photo by Richard Ellis/Getty Images]”I just came from a meeting today in the Situation Room in which I got people who we know have been on ISIL Web sites, living here in the United States, U.S. citizens, and we’re allowed to put them on the no-fly list when it comes to airlines, but because of the National Rifle Association, I can not prohibit those people from buying a gun”, President Obama said. Hillary Clinton and President Obama have also indicated their renewed support for the ban, which was brought to a vote in the Senate after the shooting in San Bernardino, California past year, but ultimately failed.
Advertisement
By Wednesday, however, the NRA tweeted that it was “happy to meet” Trump to discuss the issue, though it later made clear that the announcement did not represent a change.
It was reported that last November Trump supported a gun ban for anyone on a terror watch list, and his tweet seems to mirror that position.
The long-simmering issue of gun control gained new urgency after a man who had been on one of the terrorism watch lists killed 49 people at an Orlando gay nightclub early on Sunday.
Mateen was added to a government watch list of individuals known or suspected of being involved in terrorist activities in 2013, when he was investigated for inflammatory statements to co-workers.
Anyone on a terror watchlist who tries to buy a gun should be thoroughly investigated by the FBI and the sale delayed while the investigation is ongoing.
Trump’s position appeared to signal a shift from the NRA, which had dismissed such bans just one day ago as “ineffective” or “unconstitutional”, if not both.
In Atlanta Wednesday, Trump sounded equally hard-line on gun rights, alleging that if everyone in the Pulse nightclub had had a gun, there would have been a different result – something he said after the Paris attack as well (and is a standard NRA line). “From what I’m told all of the compromises proposed by Cornyn and Toomey are not at all acceptable”, said Senator Chuck Schumer, a Democrat of NY.
However, relying on terrorist and no-fly watch lists to regulate gun purchases has serious shortcomings.
We also know that Mateen was actually once on a terrorist watch list, then taken off of it.
“People with possible ties to terrorism who are not allowed on a plane shouldn’t be allowed to buy a gun”, Obama said. As of Tuesday, the Democratic author of the bill, Sen. “If you have suspected terrorist links”, she said, “you should not be able to buy a gun”.
Since the Orlando shooting, Democrats in Congress have also focused on legislation to target those who have been labeled as potential terrorists by the federal government, knowing that it could be a politically savvy way to get their colleagues across the aisle to move on gun control. “Due process & right to self-defense for law-abiding Americans”.
“Few places on earth make it easier than the United States for a terrorist to buy assault weapons to mow down scores of people in a matter of minutes”, the editorial board wrote.
Advertisement
A U.S. government report shows that known or suspected terrorists have passed background checks to purchase guns or explosives more than 90 percent of the time.
