New Britain Herald (Conn.), Dec. 11:
Gov. Dannel Malloy announced Thursday that he would use an executive order to ban gun sales to those on federal No-Fly Watch Lists for people suspected of ties to terrorism.
“If you cannot fly due to being on a government watch list, you should not be able to buy a firearm,” Malloy said. “This is common sense. The American people get it.”
He said he would sign the order as soon as his office had received federal approval to access the list.
His decision comes in the wake of three very recent shootings: the Paris attacks where 130 people died, shot with automatic rifles; the Colorado Springs shooting at a Planned Parenthood site where three people died after a gunman armed with an semi-automatic rifle invaded the clinic; and, the most recent, the San Bernadino terrorist raid where 14 innocents died. The couple in that incident used semiautomatic rifles.
Despite the carnage, many argue that the No-Fly Watch Lists, which contain “tens of thousands” of names, are inaccurate, lack due process and carry the names of innocents. (If this is the case – and apparently it is – we can’t help wondering why no one is calling for correction of an instrument that is used to prevent average citizens from getting on an airplane.)
Others point out that the ban would not have stopped the California attack as the shooters were not on any government terrorism watch list; nor was Robert Dear, the Colorado gunman who apparently has no ties to foreign terrorists but may have mental health issues.
Moreover, the National Rifle Association is calling Malloy’s proposal a constitutional issue, adding that mere suspicion shouldn’t take away the right to own a gun.
Finally, we can’t help wondering whether such a dramatic step requires not just the signature of the governor but the backing of the state Legislature. Three years ago, when a gunmen killed 20 children and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School, right here in Connecticut, the state Legislature passed some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation. Shouldn’t they have a say in this decision?
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