Bloomberg Uses Ft. Hood Murders To Push Gun Control

[Tim Nunan]

http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Read.aspx?ID=5225

In another transparent attempt to undercut the Second Amendment fresh on the heels of his hidden-camera attack on gun shows, Michael Bloomberg’s anti-gun group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, has alleged that the multiple murders that took place on Ft. Hood recently could have been prevented by changes in federal gun laws.

In an ad in the Washington Post on Monday, Bloomberg’s group claimed that the Ft. Hood murder suspect’s “gun purchase could have been key to the FBI’s investigation into his association with terrorists.”

Incredible. It has already been reported that before the suspect purchased the gun allegedly used in the murders, the FBI knew that between December 2008 and June 2009, he had sent 16 emails to a radical Islamic cleric based suspected of having ties to al-Qaeda. In one, he told the cleric that he could not wait to join him in the afterlife.

Nevertheless, after reviewing the e-mails, the FBI and other federal agencies concluded that the suspect was not a threat, and it has since concluded that the crimes of which he is suspected were not part of organized terrorism.

On November 9, the FBI stated “Major Hasan came to the attention of the FBI in December 2008 as part of an unrelated investigation being conducted by one of our Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTFs). JTTFs are FBI-led, multi-agency teams made up of FBI agents, other federal investigators, including those from the Department of Defense, and state and local law enforcement officers. . . . Investigators on the JTTF reviewed certain communications between Major Hasan and the subject of that investigation and assessed that the content of those communications was consistent with research being conducted by Major Hasan in his position as a psychiatrist at the Walter Reed Medical Center. Because the content of the communications was explainable by his research and nothing else derogatory was found, the JTTF concluded that Major Hasan was not involved in terrorist activities or terrorist planning. . . . [T]he investigation to date indicates that the alleged gunman acted alone and was not part of a broader terrorist plot.”

Bloomberg says that if the federal law requiring the FBI to purge the NICS system of records of approved gun purchasers had not been in place, the FBI would have known that Hasan had bought a gun and changed its judgment about him. But while few Americans exchange e-mails with radical clerics suspected of ties to al Qaeda, there are about 12 million NICS firearm checks annually. To Bloomberg, apparently, buying a gun is reason enough to be suspicious. Bloomberg also says that Congress should approve legislation introduced by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), to allow Americans placed on the FBI’s terror watchlist to be prohibited from buying firearms, but to deny them the right to confront their accusers and the “evidence” against them. Both concepts received a nod from the Obama Administration on November 18. During hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) asked Attorney General Eric Holder whether the administration supported legislation to allow to FBI to retain NICS gun purchase records, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) asked Holder whether the administration supported legislation "closing" the so-called "Terror Gap." Holder responded in the affirmative on both counts.

You would think that someone who can spend $200 million of his own money to get elected mayor of New York City three times could afford copies of the U.S. Code and the Constitution. Not only does federal law stipulate the specific grounds for denying a person the right to arms, the Fourteenth Amendment states that no one shall be deprived of liberty without due process of law.

And while he is at it, he could buy a copy of another well-known publication, Webster’s Dictionary, and look up the word “obsession.”

To see Bloomberg’s Washington Post ad, and whether your town’s mayor is allied with his group, see www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org/downlo ... gap_ad.pdf.

[Tim Nunan]

http://tiahrt.house.gov/index.cfm?secti ... temid=1355

WASHINGTON—U.S. Congressman Todd Tiahrt (pronounced TEE-hart), R-Kan., released the following statement in response to heinous accusations from Mayor Bloomberg’s political organization Mayors Against Illegal Guns. On Monday the Bloomberg organization paid for a full-page advertisement in the Washington Post assigning blame for the Fort Hood massacre, in part, to firearm policy authored by Tiahrt and approved by Congress since 2002.

“The mayors who politicized the tragic deaths of those whose lives were taken along with the dozens who sustained injuries at Fort Hood should immediately issue a public apology to the victims and their families,” said Tiahrt. “Their use of soldiers’ deaths, their smear campaign against me, and their attempt to deceitfully change public policy disgraces their reputations as public servants. Using the Fort Hood massacre to advance a devious ad campaign dishonors the freedoms our men and women in uniform have paid the ultimate sacrifice to protect. Americans everywhere should be outraged and demand that each of these mayors be held accountable.

“The Tiahrt trace data amendment prevents the release of confidential law enforcement data to the public while making certain it is provided to local, state and federal law enforcement officials for use in criminal investigations. That’s why the Fraternal Order of Police, the world’s largest organization of sworn law enforcement officers, supports the Tiahrt trace data amendment.

“Contrary to what Mayors Against Illegal Guns have asserted, the Tiahrt amendment does not affect background check outcomes, does not affect who is permitted to own a firearm, and does not restrict law enforcement officials from accessing and effectively using all available firearm data for criminal investigations. Allowing the federal government to maintain a firearm registry of law-abiding American citizens who have passed a background test will do nothing to prevent terrorist attacks. Retaining a federal registry for 45 days or even 45 years will not make us any safer but will expose which citizens own guns and how many they own – something every violent criminal would like to access.

“Unfortunately, many opponents of the Tiahrt language, including Mayor Bloomberg, appear to be more interested in lawsuits against firearm manufacturers than about protecting law enforcement officers, the public, and privacy rights of law-abiding citizens who own firearms.”

[ProguninTN]

Of course, Bloomberg won't acknowledge that the Ft. Hood shooting could have been stopped sooner if its residents/employees were allowed to be armed.

[lilredhunter]

I wish someone would super glue Bloombergs mouth closed so we didn't have to hear his BS. He thinks he is right and wants to force everyone to believe it like Hitler spewing crap. I put them in the same category because as many people will die because of his view if it is ever made the way he wants, as Hitler killed during his reign of power.

[ProguninTN]