By THE PALM BEACH POST
Updated: 6:49 p.m. Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Posted: 4:49 p.m. Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Who could favor selling guns to terrorism suspects? The National Rifle Association.

In 2007, the Bush administration backed a bill by Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., to let federal officials block sales of weapons and explosives to people on a terrorist watch list. The NRA charged that it "would allow arbitrary denial of Second Amendment rights based on mere 'suspicions' of a terrorist threat."

With Democrats and Republicans alike too gutless to take on the NRA, even for such a foolish stand, Sen. Lautenberg's bill went nowhere. The issue has resurfaced because Faisal Shahzad, the failed Times Square car bomber, last March bought a Kel-Tec Sub Rifle 2000 for $400 from a Connecticut gun shop. Shahzad is a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Pakistan.

He was not on a terror watch list when he bought the gun, which is a low-power cross between a rifle and a pistol made by the same Florida company that made the Tec-9 famous. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was concerned enough to lobby Congress last week for Sen. Lautenberg's bill. The NRA's response? Mayor Bloomberg is the new Joe McCarthy, exploiting "watch list" the way the late, disgraced senator exploited "communist." Other opponents, such as Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said the bill would be unfair to people placed on the watch list by mistake.

Not all mistakes, however, are created equal. It is an inconvenience, and a correctable mistake, if a law-abiding citizen can't buy a gun because he's mistakenly placed on a terrorism watch list. But if people on a terror watch list buy high-powered weapons and mount a Mumbai-style attack in a major city, the mistake enables terrorism and murder.

Could terror suspects just buy guns illegally? Perhaps. But then they also could be arrested and held just for that crime, and perhaps before they could carry out the attack.

Shahzad wasn't on a terror list until just before he was caught, and his listing was botched because the airline didn't check the list before letting him board a plane. So, obviously, the lists and their enforcement must be improved. But one improvement would be to use them to flag people who should not have an unrestricted right to buy guns and explosives.

Congress and the Obama administration may allow judges to issue special warrants for terror suspects that allow an abridged Miranda warning, such as one that omits the right to remain silent. Good luck crafting a policy that doesn't let criminals walk on appeal. It's a more serious assault on basic rights than preventing gun sales to terrorism suspects.

In the 1980s, the NRA opposed a ban on bullets that can pierce police officers' protective vests. The ban on cop-killer bullets eventually passed. So should restrictions on terrorism suspects buying guns.