The Battle of Gun Rights and The War on Terrror.

There is an article today in the NY Times about gaps in federal gun laws that allows terrorists to get their hands on assault weapons and other guns by going through perfectly legal channels.

At least 44 times from February 2004 to June, people whom the F.B.I. regards as known or suspected members of terrorist groups sought permission to buy or carry a gun, the investigation found.

In all but nine cases, the F.B.I. or state authorities who handled the requests allowed the applications to proceed because a check of the would-be buyer found no automatic disqualification like being a felon, an illegal immigrant or someone deemed "mentally defective," the report found.

In the four months after the formal study ended, the authorities received an additional 14 gun applications from terror suspects, and all but 2 of those were cleared to proceed, the investigation found. In all, officials approved 47 of 58 gun applications from terror suspects over a nine-month period last year, it found.

I just find it personally disturbing that the Patriot Act is so set on reducing personal liberties in a wide variety of areas and, if nothing else, walk the finest of lines in violating any number of the bill of rights....all except for everybody's favorite amendment, the 2nd.

I understand that the NRA is a solid block of conservative voting but honestly who thinks it is a bad idea to restrict highly dangerous weapons so that Terrorists either can't get them or make them really easy to track. Who thinks that this is a bad idea?

The administration seemed to cave really easily to Gun Rights groups where they are really willing to fight liberal groups over the other provisions of the Patriot Act. But i remain glad that the FBI can look at my library records but can't stop terrorists from legally buying guns or track them once they do.