Salon article describing how the 2nd Amendment trumps the War of Terror

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Scott Alexander <salex () dsalex org>
Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 09:04:50 -0500
To: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: Salon article describing how the 2nd Amendment trumps the War of
Terror

Salon has an article today that describes several effects gun
legislation and policy existing and proposed under this administration.
Particularly interesting in light of John Gilmore's suit is the
discussion of how buying a gun is easier for some people than getting on
a plane.

Best,
Scott

http://salon.com/news/feature/2005/03/28/guns/index.html

But gun control advocates say they are dumbfounded by the timing of
Congress' effort to indemnify the gun industry because it will come just
weeks after the release of a troubling report on guns and terrorism. A
Government Accountability Office report released earlier this month said
that at least 36 individuals on the federal terrorist "watch list" have
walked into gun shops and bought weapons. The report makes the current
effort in Congress to provide immunity to the industry painfully ironic
to the gun control crowd. "It really ought to be an embarrassment that
Congress would push this bill in the wake of a report that terrorists
are buying guns over the counter," said Dennis Henigan, legal action
project director at the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

Observers say the strange juxtaposition speaks to the momentous clout of
the National Rifle Association and the gun industry -- and may have
exposed like never before a glaring blind spot in homeland security.
Where the Bush administration's "war on terror" has conflicted with the
interests and raw political power of the gun lobby, mounting evidence
shows that the war consistently loses. Henigan noted that suspects on
the government's terror watch list cannot board airplanes or cruise
ships, but they can buy assault weapons. "There is no question that this
radical pro-gun ideology trumps the war on terror," he said. "It is
quite striking."

[...]

Some gun law experts say the Bush administration has shown a remarkable
willingness to push the edge of the civil liberties envelope, citing the
necessities of war -- the "sneak and peak" provisions of the USA PATRIOT
Act and the naming of U.S. citizens as "enemy combatants" being prime
examples. But as conservatives have consolidated power since 9/11, they
have done little to stop would-be terrorists from arming themselves here
in the United States. And as they have pursued an agenda that includes
an ostensible dedication to preserving the sanctity of the Second
Amendment, their success may have had the unintended consequence of
making it easier, not harder, for terrorists to get guns.

"Nothing has been done, and in fact it has gone the other way," said
Ricker. "Look at the whole way the administration has handled things
since 9/11. There is a constitutional right to travel, for example, but
[the administration is willing to] restrict rights to travel. They have
[attacked terrorism] through banking and financial transactions. But as
far as guns go -- the Second Amendment -- it is wide open."

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