Democrats’ recent efforts to secure votes on gun control measures in the wake of the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida have stoked criticism not just from Republican leadership but from some on the left.
The American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday sent a letter to senators laying out its opposition to the latest legislation up for consideration, a proposal by Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) that would bar anyone on certain federal government watchlists from buying guns.
“The ACLU strongly urges you to vote against the Collins Amendment because it uses the errorprone and unfair watchlist system, along with vague and overbroad terms, as a predicate for a proceeding to deny a firearms permit,” ACLU legislative leaders wrote, saying reliance on the lists “would open the door to arbitrary and discriminatory government action.”
Collins’ amendment, which is backed by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), targets those on the No Fly List and the Selectee List, a secret list which selects certain passengers for additional inspection at U.S. airports. This is a narrower frame than the measure proposed by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (C-DA) earlier this week, which targeted anyone on the broader terrorist watchlist. Feinstein’s amendment was defeated on Tuesday, along with another offered up by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX).
The ACLU opposed both measures for relying on a watchlist system that has in the past swept up innocent individuals, is kept secret, and offers no “meaningful process” for people to “correct government error and clear their names.”
Glenn Greenwald of The Intercept, an investigative national security news site, voiced similar concerns in a Tuesday piece cautioning against the likelihood of racial profiling and the overly broad language in these amendments.
“Democrats, in unison, are actually arguing that the U.S. government must constrain people whom they are now calling ‘potential terrorists,’” Greenwald wrote. “Just spend a moment pondering how creepy and Orwellian that phrase is in the context of government designations.”
As this debate raged, Democrats took to the House floor to hold a sit-on over Republican leaders’ refusal to call votes on a pair of gun control measures before the chamber left for recess. Though the House adjourned until July 5 early Thursday morning, Democratic leaders remained on the House floor in protest.
Read the ACLU’s full letter below.
Good for them. I love the extended background check idea but until there is transparency and court review – not FISA – of the watch list we should not expand its power.
I have to say I agree. I am more than happy to see the Dems stand their ground and make a bunch of noise here–it’s drawing needed attention to the issue–but I wasn’t aware we haven’t at all moved forward on the how to rectify obvious errors in these lists. If there are no ways to correct them, then that needs to be first – which leads me to really understand why there’s been no movement in that direction … because if there is a workable mechanism to fix errors with these lists, then the Republicans would have that much less of an argument to fall back on for not doing the right thing. They really are despicable entities.
I’m sorry, but if you can put folks on a Watchlist and stop them from flying, then you can damned well stop them from buying a gun as well.
It’s fatuous to try to argue that folk the government considers potential terrorists should be able to purchase weapons.
I absolutely agree to the fact that the lists need to be improved and made transparent. And for folks to have viable avenues to protest being put on the list. But to stop this kind of measure just because the lists need improvement is to make perfect the enemy of good.
It’s similar to how far left folks wanted (and still want) Obamacare to be struck down because they only want Universal Health Care. Yes, Universal Health Care would be awesome. But do you really want to go back to how f’d up things were until we one day, maybe, get to Universal Health Care decades from now???
The list should be greatly expanded, to include everyone who has ever been convicted of a criminal offense, and everyone who is currently diagnosed with a mental illness or prescribed a controlled substance. All semiautomatic rifles and shotguns with capacity greater than two rounds should be illegal for everyone. All firearms with capacity over six rounds should be illegal for everyone.
austinite, I don’t know how to break this to you but…YOU are a potential terrorist (because everyone is), and therefore the government could easily designate you as one since the process has no judicial review. And why stop with guns and airline flights? Once austinite has that extrajudicial label applied, we could then proceed to block austinite from getting a driver’s license, from marrying, from voting…well, you get the picture. Why let an executive-branch-designated potential terrorist do any of those things just because the system isn’t perfect?
It is inaccurate to describe the no-fly and related lists as imperfect. They’re a discriminatory, extrajudicial disaster and a travesty of democracy.