Another Lautenburg Proposal

Classical Values has a great post on the Lautenburg proposal to deny guns to those on the "Terrorist Watch List." Thanks to Dave Hardy for pointing to it on his blog, Of Arms and the Law.

This is a horrible and unconstitutional abuse of government authority, by a man who simply hates the idea that the "little people" might defend themselves with a gun. The Terrorist Watch List has been controversial because you can apparently be placed on it by a bureaucrat without being convicted of any crime, you can not find out if you are on it or why, and there is no means to get your name cleared. Presumably, you could appear on the list because someone at TSA doesn't like you, and wants to harass you. Or, who knows, because you are a conservative blogger? Because I don't know the criterion for getting on the list, I can speculate all day about it. Nixon had his "Enemies List," but this is supposedly "official."

Now, let's also think about the practical effects of the proposal for a minute. Does anyone believe that a real terrorist is going to just walk into a gun store, select a Glock 19, fill out the paperwork, and carry it out of the store leaving a paper trail of the serial number, and empty casing, and the place where purchased? Anyone? Of course not. Like anyone bent on a criminal enterprise, they will obtain their weapons through the black market, or smuggle them into the country. They probably won't steal the weapons themselves because of the risk to the mission if caught. So who do you think this will affect? If you said the law abiding citizen, you are correct. Lautenberg is using the ruse of the current bogeyman, the terrorist (who by the way, is real) to craft a law to harass law abiding citizens who may feel the need of a gun, especially when police forces are being cut due to the economic climate.

Anyway, go read the who thing. The comments section is particularly amusing as well.