Should suspects on the terrorist watch list be able to easily purchase a handgun?

Saturday, May 15, 2010
by Peter H. Stone

When a top aide to conservative Sen. David Vitter, R-La., suggests that his boss may back a bill aimed at curbing terrorists' access to firearms, the National Rifle Association knows it could face a tougher fight than usual. And it surely doesn't help when the Pelican State's senior senator, moderate Democrat Mary Landrieu, says she's ready to support the same measure.

The unsuccessful car bomb attack in Times Square, coupled with election-year politics, is scrambling the lobbying landscape for the often invincible NRA. In early May, the gun-rights group was on the defensive at a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing. At the session, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg testified about how terrorism suspects can easily purchase firearms. Bloomberg is a founder of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which boasts 500 mayors nationwide in its coalition.

"To make it harder for terrorists to strike ... it's just common sense to give the FBI the authority to keep terror suspects from buying guns and explosives," Bloomberg told the committee.

In a May 10 letter to The Washington Post, the NRA's top lobbyist, Chris Cox, slammed the so-called terror gap legislation as McCarthyism. Cox wrote that the bill would undermine the Second Amendment rights of innocent Americans who have mistakenly landed on the terrorist watch list. More broadly, Cox argues that the recent flurry of activity by gun control advocates boils down to political opportunism. "If you look at the playbook of our opponents, they try to exploit tragedy and incidents," Cox told National Journal in an interview.

But some veteran advocates note that the near-catastrophe in Times Square has generated "a renewed concern about terrorism," says Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. "I think it scrambles some of the old alliances and scrambles most of the NRA's near-solid hold on a core group of senators."

The Brady Campaign, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, and other allies are also stepping up efforts to pass a bill that would close a gun show loophole that allows private dealers to sell weapons without conducting background checks. More than 100 House members and 18 senators support the legislation, despite fierce opposition from the NRA for several years running.

The gun-rights group, however, still has plenty of allies on Capitol Hill and the power to intimidate members to vote its way. The NRA's political action committee is likely to raise and spend close to $15 million on key midterm races to boost or defeat lawmakers, depending on their voting records. Historically, the NRA uses its PAC funds to buy radio, TV, and newspaper ads and to make contributions to members of Congress. Sources say that the group could spend an additional $5 million on direct mail to lawmakers, using soft-money donations.

Further, with tea party activists exerting new influence on the Republican Party and mobilizing support for conservative candidates they favor, such lawmakers as Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who once advocated some curbs on guns, have shifted notably to the NRA's side. McCain pushed hard several years ago for legislation to close the gun show loophole, but he recently teamed with Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., to sponsor a pro-NRA bill that would roll back the District of Columbia's latest curbs on guns, developed in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling. An NRA spokesman says that the measure now has about a dozen supporters, and the pro-gun lobby is working hard to get other senators on board.

The NRA's renewed push against the District's gun laws could pose a serious threat, Helmke said, the growing concerns about terrorism and firearms notwithstanding. "The NRA's interest in gutting D.C. gun laws has been one of their priorities for some time," he noted. But other gun control advocates play down the danger of the legislation and argue that the NRA will have a tougher time this year battling the city's firearms statutes.

"There's a new energy and unanimity with which the city leaders are opposing any repeal of D.C.'s gun laws," says lobbyist Kristen Rand of the Violence Policy Center, which tracks gun control issues.

Helmke and other gun control activists think that the attention now being paid to how easily terrorists can obtain guns will boost their prospects on both the terror gap and gun show loophole bills. Advocates cite a recent study by the Government Accountability Office: Between 2004 and February 2010, suspected terrorists tried to purchase weapons on 1,119 occasions and were successful 91 percent of the time.

To maximize their chances of passing either gun control measure, the Brady Campaign and the mayors group are turning up the grassroots heat. Last month, on the anniversaries of the massacres at Columbine High School in Colorado and Virginia Tech University, the mayors group ran ads in both states calling for closing the gun show loophole. Late last year, the mayors released an eye-catching poll by GOP consultant Frank Luntz in which a majority of 400 NRA members polled favored reasonable controls, including the gun show bill and barring gun purchases by people on the terrorism watch list. The Brady Campaign has been sending e-mail alerts to its 300,000 members nationwide to drum up grassroots support.

In the eyes of the NRA, however, the loophole legislation would be a disaster and would go much further than its advocates contend. "They want to regulate gun shows out of existence," says lobbyist Cox. For now, the group is keeping its members informed of the new legislative risks and will issue calls for action as necessary. "History has shown that [our members] will get involved" when tasked, Cox said.

The NRA has long used its clout with Republican and conservative leaders to counter political threats. Its muscle will be on display this weekend in Charlotte, N.C., at the group's 139th annual meeting. On Friday night, the pro-gun faithful will hear speeches from some of the GOP's most high-profile conservatives, including former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, and TV action hero Chuck Norris. Conservative media star Glenn Beck will be the featured speaker the following night.

"Their annual meeting is the place to be for any conservative leader," quips Rand of the Violence Policy Center.

Looking ahead, the NRA may wind up mounting one of its biggest and most expensive campaign offensives ever this fall. Besides the $20 million that it will spend on ads, campaign contributions, and mailings to lawmakers, sources say that there's a good chance the group will capitalize on the new freedom to use corporate dollars in election efforts as a result of the controversial Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. That means the NRA will be firing both barrels -- hard PAC dollars and soft money -- in advocating for the express election or defeat of candidates, a prospect that probably leaves more than a few members of Congress feeling nervous.