Smart proposals that could deny weapons to possible terrorists

Sunday, December 6, 2009

MAYORS AGAINST Illegal Guns, a bipartisan coalition of roughly 500 U.S. mayors, has been pushing for smart and sensible law enforcement solutions to reduce the number of illegal guns obtained by criminals or would-be criminals. Last month the mayors renewed their call for adoption of two relatively modest but potentially powerful proposals.

The first aims to close the so-called "terror gap" in existing gun laws by prohibiting any one on the country's "no fly" list from being allowed to purchase a gun. Such a prohibition would allow the FBI to stop "people who are too dangerous to get on a plane from buying guns and explosives," said New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, a co-founder of the mayors group. This proposal is a no-brainer.

A 2009 report by the General Accountability Office found 865 instances between 2004 and February 2009 where those on the terrorist watch list were able to buy a gun. The law currently bars convicted felons and immigrants who are in this country illegally, among others, from purchasing guns, but no mention is made of a suspected terrorist. Legislation to close this loophole, introduced by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.), has stalled.

The mayors are also arguing for elimination of a provision that forces the FBI to destroy within 24 hours any record of a background check performed on someone who passes the screening. The provision is part of the Tiahrt Amendment, a series of measures that place high hurdles in the way of law enforcement officials trying to discern where and when guns used in crimes were sold. Before the Tiahrt Amendment was passed, the FBI would routinely keep records of background checks on file for six months. Had this remained the practice, law enforcement agents who were tracking the activities of Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, the alleged gunman in the Fort Hood massacre, would have had the opportunity to see that he had purchased a weapon in August.

No one will ever know if knowledge of that purchase would have triggered an intervention that could have thwarted the Fort Hood attack. There should be no doubt, however, about the need for law enforcement officials to have access to this information.