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Wes Vernon, NewsMax.com
Thursday, Nov. 27, 2003
WASHINGTON – Legislation on Capitol Hill seeks to use the threat of terrorism to do an end run around the Second Amendment and could be abused to ban sales of firearms.
The so-called Homeland Security Gun Safety Act of 2003, referred earlier this year to the Senate Judiciary Committee, purportedly seeks “to enhance the security of the Nation by increasing the time allowed to track terrorists during periods of elevated alert …â€
That sounds commonsensical enough on its face. After 9/11, who could argue with wanting to track terrorists during periods of “elevated alert�
It is in the rest of that paragraph that raises red flags for National Rifle Association: “... closing loopholes that have allowed terrorists to acquire firearms, maintaining records of certain handgun transfers during periods of heightened terrorist risk, and for other purposes.â€
The NRA says the problem lies with Section 2, which says Section 922 of title 18, United States Code, is amended so that sections of the gun law “shall not apply during any period in which the threat condition under the Homeland Security Advisory system is elevated, high or severe.†Later it stipulates that the changes “shall remain in effect until the threat condition has been at the lowest level for 180 consecutive days.â€
The NRA sees the bill as something that is being slipped under the radar. The “terrorist threat condition†has never been down to its lowest level since 9/11, the Second Amendment group notes.
'Permanent Suspension of Law'
“In effect, it’s a permanent suspension of existing law,†NRA Communications Director Andrew Arulanandum told NewsMax.com. Further, he sees it an “an attempt to create a national firearm registration system.â€
The NRA spokesman says the bill would suspend statutes that limit law enforcement to three days for completing background checks of firearms purchases, as well as a law that requires the destruction of records of anyone whose purchase is approved, “meaning they’re law abiding.â€
It would mean “a suspension of rules that protect firearms owners, as long as we’re in a state of heightened alertness,†Arulanandam declared.
Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, said when the legislation was introduced: "These are the very laws that were used by the Nazis to register everybody's guns, to confiscate the Jews' guns and then to commit genocide. Why the senator would want to do something as horrible as that, I can't understand."
Supporters of the Constitution said at the time that law enforcement agencies could block sales of firearms by refusing to complete background checks.
Sen. Lautenberg’s office did not get back to NewsMax by deadline. However, a Senate staffer requesting anonymity told us that “is not the interpretation†the legislation’s co-sponsors “want it to mean, if that’s what you mean.â€
Lautenberg’s co-sponsors are Sens. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., Jon Corzine, D-N.J., and Jack Reed, D-R.I.
This staffer could see “how someone may misunderstand it,†but that’s not the impression supporters of the bill want “to get across.â€
NRA maintains that if one wants to avoid “misinterpretation,†the wording could be made clear. The statutes are loaded with laws that elected officials wrote in vague wording so as to leave it to unelected regulators or police to enforce its unpopular provisions and let them take the blame for any backlash.
When he introduced the bill, Lautenberg said that to “protect our homeland and keep our families safe, we must deal directly with the ability of terrorists and criminals to get their hands on guns.â€
The problem with that, says NRA’s Arulanandam, is that it affects the ability of law-abiding citizens to “get thir hands on guns†for their protection.
Second Amendment watchdogs will keep their eyes on the progress of this one.
Thursday, Nov. 27, 2003
WASHINGTON – Legislation on Capitol Hill seeks to use the threat of terrorism to do an end run around the Second Amendment and could be abused to ban sales of firearms.
The so-called Homeland Security Gun Safety Act of 2003, referred earlier this year to the Senate Judiciary Committee, purportedly seeks “to enhance the security of the Nation by increasing the time allowed to track terrorists during periods of elevated alert …â€
That sounds commonsensical enough on its face. After 9/11, who could argue with wanting to track terrorists during periods of “elevated alert�
It is in the rest of that paragraph that raises red flags for National Rifle Association: “... closing loopholes that have allowed terrorists to acquire firearms, maintaining records of certain handgun transfers during periods of heightened terrorist risk, and for other purposes.â€
The NRA says the problem lies with Section 2, which says Section 922 of title 18, United States Code, is amended so that sections of the gun law “shall not apply during any period in which the threat condition under the Homeland Security Advisory system is elevated, high or severe.†Later it stipulates that the changes “shall remain in effect until the threat condition has been at the lowest level for 180 consecutive days.â€
The NRA sees the bill as something that is being slipped under the radar. The “terrorist threat condition†has never been down to its lowest level since 9/11, the Second Amendment group notes.
'Permanent Suspension of Law'
“In effect, it’s a permanent suspension of existing law,†NRA Communications Director Andrew Arulanandum told NewsMax.com. Further, he sees it an “an attempt to create a national firearm registration system.â€
The NRA spokesman says the bill would suspend statutes that limit law enforcement to three days for completing background checks of firearms purchases, as well as a law that requires the destruction of records of anyone whose purchase is approved, “meaning they’re law abiding.â€
It would mean “a suspension of rules that protect firearms owners, as long as we’re in a state of heightened alertness,†Arulanandam declared.
Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, said when the legislation was introduced: "These are the very laws that were used by the Nazis to register everybody's guns, to confiscate the Jews' guns and then to commit genocide. Why the senator would want to do something as horrible as that, I can't understand."
Supporters of the Constitution said at the time that law enforcement agencies could block sales of firearms by refusing to complete background checks.
Sen. Lautenberg’s office did not get back to NewsMax by deadline. However, a Senate staffer requesting anonymity told us that “is not the interpretation†the legislation’s co-sponsors “want it to mean, if that’s what you mean.â€
Lautenberg’s co-sponsors are Sens. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., Jon Corzine, D-N.J., and Jack Reed, D-R.I.
This staffer could see “how someone may misunderstand it,†but that’s not the impression supporters of the bill want “to get across.â€
NRA maintains that if one wants to avoid “misinterpretation,†the wording could be made clear. The statutes are loaded with laws that elected officials wrote in vague wording so as to leave it to unelected regulators or police to enforce its unpopular provisions and let them take the blame for any backlash.
When he introduced the bill, Lautenberg said that to “protect our homeland and keep our families safe, we must deal directly with the ability of terrorists and criminals to get their hands on guns.â€
The problem with that, says NRA’s Arulanandam, is that it affects the ability of law-abiding citizens to “get thir hands on guns†for their protection.
Second Amendment watchdogs will keep their eyes on the progress of this one.