According to this CNN article, the NRA is opposing a bill that would allow the Justice Department to block the sales of handguns to suspected terrorists. Why, you ask? Here is the answer from Chris Cox, NRA's executive director, taken from the article:
In a letter this week to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, NRA executive director Chris Cox said the bill, offered last week by Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-New Jersey, "would allow arbitrary denial of Second Amendment rights based on mere 'suspicions' of a terrorist threat."
"As many of our friends in law enforcement have rightly pointed out, the word 'suspect' has no legal meaning, particularly when it comes to denying constitutional liberties," Cox wrote.
I have mixed feelings on this. First of all, NRA makes an excellent point: denying or infringing on anyones rights simply because they are a "suspect" is unconstitutional and outright un-American. However, NRA has been mysteriously silent on the recent assault on the freedoms provided by the first and fourth amendments, to give two examples. Our right to assembly and a free press is being subtly undermined with "free speech zones" and a culture wherein anyone who accuses the government of wrongdoing is accused of treason by mainstream sources. Our fourth-amendment rights are being pushed gradually out of the scene too, with random bag checks and security screenings that feel like being violated in public.
On the other hand, maybe letting Justice deny guns to suspected terrorists isn't a terrible idea. Of course, an infringement on one right in the name of "security" invites all of the other rights that make America so great to be infringed on by our government, too.
Is there an easy answer? No, there's not. But it's a lot of fun to think about.
