tazzygirl
Posts: 37833
Joined: 10/12/2007 Status: offline
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Featuring a clip from an al Qaeda propaganda video, in which American-born terrorist Azzam al-Amriki touts the ease with which "You can go down to a gun show at the local convention center and come away with a fully automatic assault rifle without a background check," Mayors Against Illegal Guns urges Americans to call their representatives in Congress to support stronger regulations. Can anyone spot the lie in the above? "Criminals already know how to take advantage of gaps in our gun laws, and now Al Qaeda knows, too," said Bloomberg in a statement. "Americans, including NRA members, overwhelmingly support stronger laws to keep guns away from terrorists and other dangerous people. You are checked against the terror watch list to board an airplane, but you don't have to be checked when buying assault weapons. Weak gun laws aren't just a crime problem, they're a national security threat - and this ad should be a wake-up call to Congress." The group cites 2011 data from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) showing more than 1,000 instances since 2004 in which terror suspects were able to purchase guns or explosives. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., earlier this year introduced to the Senate the "Fix Gun Checks Act," which would "ensure that all individuals who should be prohibited from buying a firearm are listed in the national instant criminal background check system and require a background check for every firearm sale." The bill was referred to Committee on the Judiciary but has yet to see further movement since March. In May, however, House Republicans shot down a similar proposal, which would have prevented people on the FBI's terrorist watch list from purchasing firearms. "It shows how extreme the National Rifle Association's control over Congress really is," said the measure's sponsor Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., of the defeat. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20075133-503544.html “Let’s take America as an example,” he says. “America is absolutely awash with easily obtainable firearms. You can go down to a gun show at the local convention center and come away with a fully automatic assault rifle, without a background check, and most likely without having to show an identification card. So what are you waiting for?” Mr. Gadahn is wrong in one respect: Individuals cannot buy “fully automatic assault” rifles without government authorization. But his larger point is well taken: Purchasing deadly weapons in the United States is easy — especially at a gun show. Buyers can scoop up semiautomatic weapons and extended magazines from private dealers at these shows without undergoing a background check. Moreover, individuals on the U.S. terrorism watch list are forbidden from air travel but may purchase a weapon. A recent report by the Government Accountability Office documented this “terror gap”: From February 2004 through February 2010, 1,228 individuals on the watch list underwent background checks to purchase firearms or explosives; 1,119, or 91 percent, of these transactions were approved. In an update published in April, the GAO reported that some 200 individuals on the watch list were approved for weapons purchases from March 2010 through December 2010. http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/closing-the-terror-gap-and-the-gun-show-loophole/2011/06/06/AGTKubKH_story.html The NRA's response to that video... Gun Ban Groups Seize On Al-Qaeda Threat Friday, June 10, 2011 Anti-gun groups have been quick to exploit last week's al-Qaeda video in which Adam Gadahn, an American-born militant on the FBI's "Most Wanted Terrorists" list, calls on followers in the United States to buy firearms and attack major institutions and public figures. On June 7, the Brady Campaign, the Violence Policy Center, the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, the Legal Community Against Violence, and States United to Prevent Gun Violence wrote to President Obama, urging him "in the strongest terms to order an immediate and thorough review of steps the Administration can take in the short term to reduce the firepower available on the civilian gun market, to tighten existing laws regulating the gun industry, and to improve the background check system to make it harder for those with terrorist ties to obtain firearms." Of course, it's never surprising that anything even remotely related to firearms inspires these anti-gun groups to promote whatever unrelated issues were already at the top of their agenda. And it's even less surprising that the groups' preferred initiatives would have no more effect on a committed terrorist than they've ever had on domestic criminals: Terrorists around the world have never lacked for "firepower," no matter how harsh the laws in the countries they've attacked. India's strict laws, for example, failed to stop the deadly attack on Mumbai. Even if private gun sales in the U.S. were banned, terrorists -- like common domestic criminals -- could simply use straw purchasers who can pass background checks, or could rely on stolen guns and other black market sources. Legislation to arbitrarily deny sales to persons on the "terrorist watchlist" would be useless against Gadahn's target audience of "lone wolf" attackers with no previous ties to terrorist organizations. Fully automatic "assault weapons" cannot be purchased over the counter. Ironically, Gadahn's call for "lone wolf" attacks may itself be a sign of his group's decline. As the private intelligence firm Stratfor said in an analysis of the video, earlier al-Qaeda communications "suggested that militants who answered the call would be trained, equipped and put into the field of battle under competent commanders," while the more recent calls for would-be terrorists to go it alone "may be an admission of defeat and an indication that the jihadists might not be receiving the divine blessing they claim." http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Read.aspx?ID=6906 Lets be quite clear, I fully support the second amendment. No where is anyone calling for a ban of guns. They are demanding the loophole allowing sales without background checks being performed to end.
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Telling me to take Midol wont help your butthurt. RIP, my demon-child 5-16-11 Duchess of Dissent 1 Dont judge me because I sin differently than you. If you want it sugar coated, dont ask me what i think! It would violate TOS.
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