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You want ’em?  Come and take ’em.

No potential for abuse here at all!  I certainly couldn’t imagine someone painting their political opponents as terrorists; if this push by Lieberman and Bloomberg succeeds, that would be enough to deny them their 2nd amendment rights.

In fact, this could be disastrous for people who are accidentally on theses lists; after all, if one guy named John Smith is on the watch list, then every John Smith who tries to do fly, or buy a gun, will find himself stymied by the federal government.

If the prohibited person category (which included felons, domestic violence offenders, the mentally unstable, and illegal drug users) were expanded to include those on the no-fly or terrorist watch lists, the number of people affected would skyrocket.

If one John Smith has ties to terrorists and is legitimately on the watch list, and some other John Smith (who has no idea that the other John Smith even exists) is pulled over while legally carrying a concealed weapon, the police will find that he is on the terrorist watch list and is thus a prohibited person.  This will result in felony charges and an expensive uphill court battle for the unfortunate non-terrorist John Smith.

Living in a free society means that sometimes people will choose to do terrible things.  That is the price we pay every time we go to the store, or get on a plane to go on vacation, or walk through Times Square.  People can only be punished for what they have actually done; this is not Minority Report, there is no department of pre-crime, and you can’t be denied your right to keep and bear arms because a bunch of panicky politicians are afraid of what you might do with them.

Tags: 2nd amendment, Clinton, DHS right-wing extremism memo, firearm registration, gun rights, Hutaree, Lieberman, molon labe, RKBA, terrorism, Times Square bomber, watch list