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Background Checks

Firearms and People on the Global Terror Background Check Watch List

Okay, this is something a little bit crazy.  There are people on the Global Terror Watch List who are legally in possession of firearms.   According to ABC News, there were 1, 225 background checks related to firearms and people who are on the Terror Watch List.   Let me repeat that for the cheap seats.  They are on the Global Terror Watch List but they are legally allowed to buy guns.

Okay.  Does anyone see a problem with this?  Out of the 1, 225 people where they conducted background checks, more than 90% of the customers were permitted to buy weapons and walk away as happy gun owners.   Apparently membership in a terrorist organization does not prohibit someone from buying a weapon, the article reports, according to the GAO.   Of course, we should feel more sanguine because the the FBI is notified when someone on the Terror Watch List buys a gun.

Now…we just had this attempted bombing in New York’s Times Square.  We have had other incidents of potential terror attacks we have luckily managed to thwart.  So how does a rule like this fit in to the overall Homeland Security Counter Terror Vigilance we have working here?  It befuddles me.    And I am one of many.  Last year, New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg introduced legislation that would prohibit people who the Terror Watch List or known to belong to a terror organization from buying guns.  That was last year.  And this is languishing how long for what reason?

The counter argument is that the Terror Watch List and be inaccurate and is not to be compared to an actual criminal history background check.   Some pointed out inaccuracies on the Terror Watch List.   It is argued that banning someone from buying a weapon because he is on the Terror Watch List may violate the gun buyer’s constitutional rights.

Yeah.  But then as Corra Group we conduct a great many Global Terror Watch List Background Checks for federal contractors and other employers who are either working with companies that are working with the government or in some capacity where the Terror Watch background check is mandated.  This is a serious background search with at least fourteen entities reporting from around the world.  So if a worker shows up on the Global Terror Watch List, he is denied employment or at the very least prohibited from participating in certain projects.  He can’t work…but he can buy a gun.

I don’t think of this as a slippery slope.  To be clear on this, I can understand the arguments that come from gun lobbies and gun owners.  I don’t even begin to want to dispute those arguments as there are too many vagaries and complexities on either side of the over all gun issue.   But this is not some citizen wanting to buy a gun.  This is someone on the Terror Watch List.  This to me is a whole different story, especially during a time when we must maintain vigilance against attempted terror attacks against our homeland and our shores.   I think with this one, we can put a lid on the rhetoric and actually get smart about it.  A little pragmatism would go a long way here.

By Gordon Basichis

Gordon Basichis is the Co-Founder of Corra Group, specializing in pre-employment background checks and corporate research. He has been a marketing and media executive and has worked in the entertainment industry, the financial, health care and technology sectors. He is the author of the best selling Beautiful Bad Girl, The Vicki Morgan Story, a non-fiction novel that helped define exotic sexuality in the late twentieth century. He is the author of the Constant Travellers and has recently completed a new book, The Guys Who Spied for China, dealing with Chinese Espionage in the United States. He has been a journalist for several newspapers and is a screenwriter and producer.

2 replies on “Firearms and People on the Global Terror Background Check Watch List”

The thought that terrorist can carry weapon and legally for that matter, is very alarming. I think there should be a strict screening policy to ensure that guns will be landed to responsible people. Definitely not to, and under no circumstances not to the hands of terrorists.