More knickers in a twist: Being on the “Terror watch list” is no bar to buying a gun

…nor should it be.

ABC News and Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) have their collective knickers in a twist over a new GAO report. The Government Accountability  Office found that 247 people on the “terror watch list” were able to buy guns in 2010. Now the last time I looked, being put on a government list wasn’t a crime. Nor must one be convicted of a crime to wind up on a list. And obviously, these 247 “desperadoes” had done nothing to raise a flag during a NICS check. In short, they have been neither accused of, nor convicted of, any crime that would prevent them from possessing a firearm.

Now, there are two questions you should be asking:

• If these people really are terrorists or affiliated with terrorists, then why aren’t they already locked up?
• If they aren’t really terrorists or affiliated with terrorists, then of what value is this list?

A person on the terror watch list is either a terrorist or he isn’t; there’s no in-between. You can’t be kinda-a-terrorist any more than you can be kinda-pregnant. A terrorist shouldn’t be on a bureaucrat’s list, he should be in an orange jumpsuit at Club Gitmo. A law abiding citizen who has done nothing wrong shouldn’t be on Big Sis’ enemies list and certainly shouldn’t have his rights curtailed.