Posted on 05/01/2007 12:47:00 PM PDT by Carry_Okie
BELLEVUE, WA – Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ troubling support of legislation that would allow him and future attorneys general the arbitrary power to block firearms purchases without due process is cause for him to step down as the nation’s highest ranking law enforcement officer, the Second Amendment Foundation said today.
The bill, S. 1237, was introduced last week at the Justice Department’s request by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), one of the most extreme anti-gunners in Congress. Called the “Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2007,” this legislation would give the Attorney General discretionary authority to deny the purchase of a firearm or the issuance of a firearm license or permit because of some vague suspicion that an American citizen may be up to no good.
“This bill,” said SAF founder Alan Gottlieb, “raises serious concerns about how someone becomes a ‘suspected terrorist.’ Nobody has explained how one gets their name on such a list, and worse, nobody knows how to get one’s name off such a list.
“The process by which someone may appeal the Attorney General’s arbitrary denial seems weak at best,” Gottlieb suggested, “and there is a greater concern. When did we decide as a nation that it is a good idea to give a cabinet member the power to deny someone’s constitutional right simply on suspicion, without a trial or anything approaching due process?
“We’re not surprised that General Gonzales has found an agreeable sponsor in Frank Lautenberg,” Gottlieb observed. “The senator from New Jersey has never seen a restrictive gun control scheme he did not immediately embrace, and S. 1237 is loaded with red flags. It would allow an appointed bureaucrat the authority to suspend or cancel someone’s Second Amendment right without even being charged with a crime.
“Attorney General Gonzales has no business asking for that kind of power over any tenet in the Bill of Rights,” Gottlieb said. “He took an oath to uphold the Constitution, not trample it. Perhaps it is time for him to go.”
I don’t believe that’s his motivation, but it sure could be the effect.
As gun owners that were responsible for electing President Bush we have a RIGHT to demand a pro-gun Justice Dept led by a pro-gun AG.
Please send your comments to comments@whitehouse.gov.
Comments to the VP..
Vice President Richard Cheney: vice_president@whitehouse.gov
Also email AG Gonzalas and tell him to resign.
E-mails to the Department of Justice, including the Attorney General, may be sent to AskDOJ@usdoj.gov.
Fits the globalist pattern.
Sometimes I hate to be right
But of course. But again, the 2A Foundation deals exclusively with the 2A, so I wouldn't expect the author to address due process as it relates to other amendments.
Speedy needs his name on that list of terror suspects just so we can see how the process of removal is accomplished.
But he’s a good man
That was McCain/Feingold.
“It’s all about enhancing the powers of the few at the expense of the many. And whether there’s an arbitrary (R) or (D) after the name, it still stinks.”
Welcome to the New Feudalism. I’ve berated myself for being a tinfoiler for harboring similar thoughts as yours, but now, I begin to wonder a little...
And desperately attempting to create tens of millions of new Democrat voters (by granting amnesty to illegal aliens) is just one of them. If the Prez jumps on the gun-grabbing bandwagon led by the likes of Lautenberg, Kennedy, and Schumer you can pencil in a Dem victory in '08 right now.
LOL! Close, but that was not targeting named individuals, nor was it at the discretion of the Attorney General.
I remember when Bush said that.
Somebody should tell him it's parchment, not paper.
The bill is not available to look at so I’ll disregard whether it is constitutionally sound.
it’s obvious effect would be to provide terrorists with a simple means of discovering whether they were under suspicion...
Just try to buy a gun!
“He took an oath to uphold the Constitution, not trample it. Perhaps it is time for him to go.”
While I supported Gonzales for firing a few U.S. attorneys (but wondered why he did not have the necessary backbone to support himself against naysayers), now I see that he is little more then just another un-American, Constitution bashing, liberal punk. I was afraid of that when Bush picked him. Now we know.
So, okay, enough of this gun-grabbing bullshit! He is advocating a major violation of the Constitution (Bill of Rights). Send him to the front of the line: the unemployment line.
Alito was his second choice, Harriet Miers was his first choice if you remember.
I miss the “A” Team
This is not enough for Bush to do anything. It was said that Bush is more loyal to his friends than he is to his party. Dont know how true that is. I guess we will see
And the shredding of our Constitution continues.
Indeed. The seeds of tyranny are beginning to sprout.
We're getting the "F" Troop.
Freepers ARE screaming bloody murder (to prevent bloody murders) over this stupidty.
More Bush errors = fewer repubbie voters. There have already been enough acts like this, starting back with McClaim Findgold ...
Amen!!
Harriet Miers & Michael, "you're doing a heck of a job" Brown
My buddy in D. C. says it’s a done deal now.
Let’s us all pray it don’t happen.
I found more about this bill (was hopin’ it wasn’t true!) on Lautenberg’s web site.
http://lautenberg.senate.gov/documents/domestic/TerrorGap/index.cfm
Closing the “Terror Gap” - Terrorists Access to Guns
On Thursday, April 26, 2007, Senator Lautenberg introduced legislation to prohibit terrorist suspects from purchasing firearms, mirroring an Administration plan released yesterday. The bill seeks to close the “terror gap” in federal gun law by giving the Attorney General the power to block gun sales to terror suspects. Under current federal gun law, there is no provision to deny suspected terrorists from purchasing a firearm.
Under the federal Brady Act, a licensed firearms dealer must request a background check through the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) before an unlicensed individual may purchase a weapon. However, even if a NICS check reveals that the prospective purchaser is a known or suspected terrorist, nothing in current law prevents that person from purchasing a gun unless he or she meets one of the other disqualifying factors, including felony or domestic abuse convictions.
In January 2005, the GAO produced a report to Sens. Lautenberg and Biden (D-DE) that found that from February 3 to June 30, 2004, a total of 44 firearm purchase attempts were made by individuals designated as known or suspected terrorists by the federal government. In 35 cases, the FBI authorized the transactions to proceed because FBI field agents were unable to find any disqualifying information (such as felony convictions or illegal immigrant status) within the federally prescribed three business days.
Following the GAO report in March 2005, Sen. Lautenberg wrote letters to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and FBI Director Robert Mueller requesting recommendations on existing laws and Department of Justice (DOJ) regulations permitting terrorists to purchase guns and, in response to the Senator’s request, the DOJ created a department-wide working group that eventually produced a series of recommendations. That working group produced the legislative recommendations that Lautenberg introduced last night.
This week — more than two years later — DOJ recommended the introduction of the “Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2007.” The Administration’s recommendation came only following last week’s tragedy at Virginia Tech and the day before Director Mueller’s testimony in front of Sen. Lautenberg at a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on the FBI’s 2008 budget.
Sen. Lautenberg’s measure – the “Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2007” – specifically:
* Provides the Attorney General with discretionary authority to deny the transfer of a firearm or the issuance of a firearm or explosives license or permit when a background check reveals that the purchaser is a known or suspected terrorist and the Attorney General reasonably believes that the person may use a firearm or explosives in connection with terrorism;
* Includes due process safeguards that afford an affected person an opportunity to challenge a denial by the Attorney General; and
* Protects the sensitive information upon which terrorist watch list listings are based.
Should this new measure become law, it would be the first change to the Brady Law since Sen. Lautenberg’s 1996 law that has kept more than 150,000 guns out of the hands of domestic abusers.
Relevant Documents:
* GAO produced a report to Sens. Lautenberg and Biden (D-DE)
* Senator Lautenberg’s 2005 Letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
* Senator Lautenberg’s 2005 Letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller
* Senator’s request to the DOJ to create a department-wide working group
* DOJ’s Working Group Recommendations
* DOJ recommended the introduction of the “Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2007
* Video Clip of Director Mueller responding to Senator Lautenberg on Destruction of Background Check Data at the Appropriations Committee Hearing (April 26, 2007)
* Senator Lautenberg’s Bill: Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2007
Do you think this should be breaking news?
Well if not him than who? He is certainly a very competent and able AG. /Heavy Sarcasm
Is there a 'really crappy news' section?
Do you think this should be breaking news?
Absolutely!
Apparently he should be fired after all.
Who’d a thunk it? The dems are right.
Yep. Keep your powder dry...
B U M P
Well if the Bush administration keeps this up, conservatives are going to be asking to impeach Bush.
Boy howdy! I was just about to post that myself!
Well, the dems and a clock twice a day, you know.
I tried to watch his testimony last week. I could only arrive at the idea that he has such a "I'm untouchable" attitude.
And then what if we wind up with another nut Dem AG like Janet Reno. Giving this power to any AG is not wise. Dems think anyone who owns a gun is a terrorist.
You're probably correct about his motivation, but I expect the US Attorney General to understand both the probable effect and the blatant disregard this shows for the US Constitution.
I just called the White House comment line 202-456-1111 and let them know that Gonzales must go.
No.
Alberto had a record of being anti-gun, pro-”choice”, pro-illegal alien before he was appointed by Bush II.
His chief qualification for office, like Harriet Miers’ was being a friend of the Bush family. Unfortunately, political correctness trumped mediocrity and his ethnic background assured a smooth appointment.
I have that t-shirt.
You know, must people think the screen name anonymity is some protection, but if you mount a concerted effort, you can often find the identity of a poster even if the forum administrator won't reveal it. That is particularly true if you post to more than one forum. I know my identity could be ferreted out, although I have removed the most conspicuous clues.
One case I can think of is where former FReeper Sinkspur was outed to prove he was misrepresenting his status with the Catholic Church, by other current and former FReepers. I don't believe it even took extraordinary effort, just putting 2 plus 2 together from various places.
Cheney would have made a great President.
But then he fooled us. His First term wasn’t bad and he looked promising for another term. But once he was reelected he felt free to implement his “compassionate conservative” agenda by opening the floodgates from Mexico and acting out in other strange ways which become increasingly more bizarre - by Republican standards - as his last term draws to a miserable conclusion. But then McCain-Feingold should have been a warning in his first term that all was not well with this individual.
Its almost as if he was trying to assure a Democrat victory in 2008 as he did in 2006 by alienating more and more of the Republican base - PLUS a sizable number of independents.
These gutter-snipes are really trampling on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights!!
Keep it - you’ll need it.
I picked it up from a bumper sticker I bought from the Lithuanian Liberation Army during the Soviet occupation.
Crossed that bridge when I joined the forum.
#4 uses the word “unreasonable.” It depends on what the meaning of “unreasonable” is. Heck the govt has been searching and seizing willy nilly for decades. Bit by bit.
If Bush passes amnesty, I will join them!
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