After the U.S. Senate failed to pass any of four proposed gun control measures, an apparent “compromise” proposal was in the works with Maine Sen. Susan Collins spearheading, but the leader of a major gun rights group has warned that any such package needs a thorough reading before anyone votes on it.
“The devil is always in the details,” cautioned Alan Gotlieb, founder and executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation and chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. “In addition, the no fly list is such a mess that thousands of people are on it that should not be.
“My concern is that some people who have gone to court to get off the list have been stuck in the legal process, due to government obstruction, for 8 to 9 years. That is not acceptable.”
The major stumbling block has been due process. Gun owners are alarmed because one of the proposals would have banned gun purchases by anyone on the government’s “no-fly” list. But as Gottlieb pointed out, that list has been in trouble for a while. Even the late Sen. Ted Kennedy was once denied boarding on a commercial airliner because his name popped up.
Dan Gross, president of the anti-gun Brady Campaign, was disdainful of lawmakers who voted against the restrictive proposals.
But spokesman for the National Rifle Association praised the votes to reject the legislation.
“Today, the American people witnessed an embarrassing display in the United States Senate,” said Chris Cox, executive director of NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action. “President Obama and his allies proved they are more interested in playing politics than addressing their failure to keep Americans safe from the threat of radical Islamic terrorism.
“We all agree that terrorists should not be allowed to purchase or possess firearms,” Cox continued. “We should all agree that law-abiding Americans who are wrongly put on a secret government list should not be denied their constitutional right to due process. These are not mutually exclusive ideas. It is shocking that the safety of the American people is taking a backseat to political theatre.”
NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre appeared on Fox with Sean Hannity. He blasted the effort to change the conversation from terrorism to gun control.
“This is one of the greatest abandonments of the American public by the political class and their media elite enablers that I’ve ever seen,” LaPierre said. “They all know this is a terrorism issue. They don’t want to talk about it. They don’t want to talk about their failures. This is an embarrassment to them. So they want to divert attention and say ‘Hey, this is all gun control.’ It is tragic that we’re not having a discussion of terrorism and how we protect this country.”
The main concern is due process, and the best anti-gun Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) could do was say that people who were put on the no-fly list could petition to prove their innocence.
Critics were appalled by that and social media erupted with criticism. Second Amendment activists repeatedly reminded others that in the United States, there is a presumption of innocence until the government proves someone guilty.
