“Attorney General Loretta Lynch overruled FBI Director James B. Comey on Thursday, saying the Obama administration does support denying firearms sales to those on terrorist watch lists and that it can be done without harming investigations,” washingtontimes.com reports. “Mr. Comey last year had told Congress that denying sales could “blow” his agents’ investigations into potential terrorists. But his superiors at the Justice Department issued a statement Thursday saying they want to see Congress approve the ‘no-fly, no-buy’ plan Democrats are pursuing.” Because guns!
“The amendment gives the Justice Department an important additional tool to prevent the sale of guns to suspected terrorists by licensed firearms dealers while ensuring protection of the department’s operational and investigative sensitivities,” department spokesman Dena Iverson said in a statement.
Odd (or not) that the DOJ has nothing to say about the fact that the “No Fly, No Buy” bill removes Americans’ Constitutional right to keep and bear arms without due process, according to the dictates of a secret, unaccountable government enemies list of potential enemies, with no publicly known protocol for getting on or getting off the list. And there I was thinking that DOJ stands for Department of Justice.
That said, I do understand why the DOJ poo-poos the FBI’s misgivings about tipping their hand to potential terrorists. Lest we forget, the Fibbies interviewed Orlando spree killer Omar Mateen twice before his heinous act. And claims that they put him on — and then took him off — the Terrorist Watch List. Not to mention that a Florida gun store where the jihadi attempted to buy body armor called the FBI to report suspicious, terrorist-like behavior.
Even so, what we have here is a clear case of the Obama administration’s pursuit of political point-making about to hamstring the FBI’s investigative process (i.e., checking-out potential and guys on the down-low). Surprising exactly no one.
More importantly: how many terrorists won’t go to a gun store to buy a firearm now? Will they be able to source a gun elsewhere? (Hint: yes.) How many terrorists who do go to a gun store and flunk the FBI’s NICS test will not seek a firearms elsewhere? And if they flunk NICS will that accelerate any plans they may have to commit an atrocity?
In short, what is the point of this “No Fly, No Buy” bill anyway?