You, Too, Can Be A ‘Terrorist’
Kurt Hofmann, Examiner:
I looked at proposals to empower the Attorney General to unilaterally block U.S. citizens from buying firearms, merely by “determining” that they might be terrorists. No conviction, no indictment, no formal charges necessary. In fact, the AG would have the power to make the accusation, and any grounds on which it is based, secret, so there could be no fighting the “terrorist” designation. One does not need to be particularly concerned about gun rights to be outraged by such a blatant attack on the concept of innocence pending proof of guilt — the cornerstone of our justice system.
“But,” you might say, “I’m a law-abiding citizen, who does nothing to draw the attention of federal authorities — why should I worry about the kinds of people who might be accused of terrorist links.
To answer that, let’s take a look at another bill that was introduced during the last Congress, and will quite likely return in some form during this one. I refer to H.R. 1955, the “Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007.” Obviously, terrorism, whether “homegrown” or not, is something we ought to seek to prevent, so what’s the problem?
