(Click here to see full Washington Post ad).
- Press Release: Mayors Against Illegal Guns, Now Over 500 Members Strong, Urges Congress To Prevent Sales Of Guns To Terror Suspects By Closing the “Terror Gap” and Repealing the Tiahrt Amendments.
- New Web Site From Mayors Against Illegal Guns: Close the Terror Gap.org.
- Video: Rahm Emanuel, Now White House Chief Of Staff, Speaking On May 15, 2007 On the “Terror Gap.”
- New York Times Op-Ed Contributor Richard Wright: Who Created Major Hasan?
According to the Government Accountability Office, in the past five years people on the terrorist watch list succeeded in purchasing guns and explosives from licensed dealers 865 times.
Terror suspects are considered too dangerous to board a plane, yet they are legally able to buy guns. Congress must support changes in federal law and policy to prevent terrorists from obtaining guns and explosives.
Central to the debate over Afghanistan is the question of whether terrorists need a “safe haven” from which to threaten America. If so, it is said, then we must work to keep every acre of Afghanistan (and Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, etc.) out of the hands of groups like the Taliban. If not — if terrorists can orchestrate a 9/11 about as easily from apartments in Germany as from camps in Afghanistan — then maybe never-ending war isn’t essential.
However you come out on that argument, the case of Nidal Hasan shows one thing for sure: Homegrown American terrorists don’t need a safe haven. All they need is a place to buy a gun.
Advocacy and Community Spotlight
- Video: Colin Goddard, Virginia Tech Survivor Shot 4 Shot Times, Buys Assault Weapons, and Other Firearms At Gun Shows Without a Background Check To See How Weak America’s Gun Laws Are.
- ‘Day of Outrage’ Takes Stand Against Violence.
- Legal Community Against Violence Up In Arms as Calif. Gubernatorial Candidate Jerry Brown Aids NRA In Chicago Handgun Ban Case Before Supreme Court.
Extremism and Militia Watch
- Anti-Defamation League Report: Rage Grows In America, Conspiracy Theories Fuel Anti-Government Fervor; Study Focuses On Extremist Views Espoused By Glenn Beck.
- Majority Of Viewers Say Armed Militia Groups Should Be Outlawed In U.S. — Support For Second Amendment Declines After Viewing CNN Video On Militia Group, the Oath Keepers.
- Militia Movement Resurfaces In Alaska Rise In Armed Citizens Coincides With Advent Of Obama Administration.
- Salon: Glenn Beck’s White Nationalist Fans: After Anti-Defamation League Report Says Beck May Foment Violence.
- Huffington Post: Beck’s Guest List Included White Supremacists, Other Extremists Like Gun Owners Of America.
Government Resisters: Since Obama’s election, an increasing number of people have urged that he and his administration must “be resisted.” Some groups have implicitly or explicitly urged armed resistance. Many of these groups have appropriated an idealized version of Revolutionary War history for their own purposes. ADL’s report looks at the activities of several resistor groups, including The Oath Keepers and The Three Percenters.
Another Beck guest with a controversial past is Larry Pratt, the president of Gun Owners of America….
A Second-Amendment rights enthusiast, Pratt may be best known for being forced to resign as co-chair of Pat Buchanan’s 1996 presidential campaign because of ties to white supremacist and extremist groups. The same year, the Southern Poverty Law Center reported that Pratt was contributing to an anti-Semitic periodical titled “United Sovereigns of America.” Gun Owners of America, meanwhile, was discovered donating money to a white supremacist attorney’s group.
News
- Stephen Colbert: AK-47 Designer Celebrates His Birthday, Honored As Russian Hero.
- Florida: Gainesville Sun Editorial, “A Deadly License,” Quotes Freedom States Alliance On New Study “CCW Killers.”
- Think Progress: Gun Lobby’s Deception — Groups Mobilize Against Health Reform By Claiming Obama Administration Will Issue ‘No Guns’ Decree.
- GOP Considers Reckless ‘Purity’ Resolution For Candidates, Including Opposing Restrictions On Guns.
- New York Times: High-Tech ‘Ears’ Listen For Gun Shots.
- Gun-Sales Ring in Brooklyn Broken Up, Officials Say.
- New York Congresswoman McCarthy and Senator Gillibrand Settle Differences On Gun Control, Partner On New Federal Measure To Combat Gun Violence.
In Florida, 14 people, including two police officers, have died at the hands of license holders.
Scott Vogel, of the Freedom States Alliance: “Florida’s failed system allowing the carrying of hidden and loaded handguns in public weakens public safety and threatens police. No other state comes close to the numbers of concealed handgun permit holders involved in lethal shootings.”
(10) We support the right to keep and bear arms by opposing government restrictions on gun ownership;
Research
