Rahm Emanuel: If you are on no-fly list, you can not possess a gun.
Byron Ruffin
Tens of thousands of innocent people have been flagged by the TSA No Fly List or other terrorist watchlists. Millions of them are innocent Americans and some are even military service members. According to Rahm Emanuel they should not be permitted to own firearms.
CNN reported that in the fall of 2004, author James Moore released his latest book, "Bush's War for Re-election", critical of President Bush. Months later, on his first airline flight since the election, James Moore was told by the airline he was flying that his name matched a name on the government's terrorist watch list.
CNN reporter Drew Griffin, who co-wrote the piece about James Moore, also matches a name on the FBI's terror watch list.
James Moore? Drew Griffin? These don't sound like names that could be commonly found in any other country other than the U.S.
Former FBI agent Jack Cloonan who worked on the al Qaeda task force states of the no-fly list: "I did see Osama bin Laden on the list both with an "O" in the first name and a "U" in the second name. I was glad to see that. But, some of the other names that I see here, you know, I just have to scratch my head and say, 'My god, look what we've created'".
"I know in our particular case they basically did a massive data dump and said 'Ok anybody that’s got a nexus to terrorism, let’s make sure they get on the list,'" Cloonan explains. "And once that train left the station, or once that bullet went down range. There was no calling it back. And that is where we are."
The Justice Department Inspector General has reported that there are more than 1 million names on the terrorist watch list, many of whom are also on the no-fly list. With so many innocent Americans on these lists it begs the question of how the Christmas "crotch-bomber" was able to board the plane with no problem.
The government's terrorist watch list is a grosely flawed system. There is no reason why a dangerous criminal or terrorist should be able to own a gun but there are many innocent Americans on these terrorist watch lists. Prohibiting them from owning weapons will, like all gun control laws, impede the ablility of Americans to defend themselves while the criminals and terrorists continue to obtain guns through illegal means.
