"The subject of guns makes them act like a paranoid mother ferret protecting her litter."

From Gail Collin's column in the NYT:
There seems to be a strong sentiment in Congress that the only constitutional right suspected terrorists have is the right to bear arms.

“I think you’re going too far here,” said Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina at a hearing of the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday. He was speaking in opposition to a bill that would keep people on the F.B.I. terrorist watch list from buying guns and explosives.

Say what?

Yes, if you are on the terrorist watch list, the authorities can keep you from getting on a plane but not from purchasing an AK-47. This makes sense to Congress because, as Graham accurately pointed out, “when the founders sat down and wrote the Constitution, they didn’t consider flying.”

The subject of guns turns Congress into a twilight zone. People who are perfectly happy to let the government wiretap phones go nuts when the government wants to keep track of weapons permits. A guy who stands up in the House and defends the torture of terror suspects will nearly faint with horror at the prospect of depriving someone on the watch list of the right to purchase a pistol.

“We make it so easy for dangerous people to get guns. If it’s the Second Amendment, it doesn’t matter if they’re Osama bin Laden,” said Paul Helmke, the president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
There's more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/06/opinion/06gcollins.html?ref=opinion

KO made this point last night. They do need to overhaul the Watch List. However, that is no excuse for their inaction. If they refuse to act in light of this situation, it proves once again how scared of the NRA and their propaganda machine.

Terra! Terra! Terra! Meh! Remind them of this wobbling on possible terrorists purchasing guns the next time they squeal.

Edit to add: IMHO 'the Watch List' as a tool is useless right now. You can deprive a lot of children from buying guns along with whoever else. If they don't change that to have some real meaning, then it is too broad.
They do need to protect rights and not use it as repression. However, the automatic screeching at a brazillion decibels prevents any real debate on this issue. There will be no effective change.

Due process. Being put on a list by some office drone should not deprive you of Civil Rights.

I think people on the watch list shouldn't have the right to a trial by jury! Send 'em all to gitmo!

"... almost everyone had a good word for the T-shirt vendor who first noticed the suspicious car and raised an alert. Really, if someone had introduced a bill calling for additional T-shirt vendors, it would have sailed through in a heartbeat."

Shoe Bomber -- Flight attendants
Underwear Bomber -- Some Dutch guy
Crock Pot Bomber -- T-Shirt vendor

Massively funded global security apparatus vs. indubitably incompetent wanna-be terrorists, 0 for 3.

Versus, just people, 3 for 3. Yet global terror gets a ratings boost somehow, and the global security apparatus gets more $$$. Hmm.

:popcorn: Extra butter please.. and a kosher Coke (the one with real sugar, not HFCS).

Progressive govt don't strip citizens of their rights based on the results of Secret lists.

The watch list has over million name including at one point the late Senator Kennedy.
Some members of DU are on the watch list by mistake.

Once you are on it there is nothing you can do. The list only grows never shrinks. It began with couple dozen names and grew to hundreds then thousands and now DHS will no longer confirm how big the list is except that it is millions.

Do you honestly think there are a million terrorist in the US?

People on the list have been given no due process.
They haven't been informed by the govt. They haven't been charged with any crime. They aren't given the option to appeal that decision.

Hell DHS won't even confirm that you ARE on the list, it is "secret".

Still you think it is a good idea to strip citizens of their Constitutional rights based on a secret list with no oversight and no due process?

Are you really that foolish to consider it a progressive concept?

I do agree the Republicans are hypocritical when it comes to Constitutional protections but do we really want to follow them down that rabbit hole?