Washington, June 24: Hundreds of people on the FBI’s “terrorism watch list” were able to buy firearms over the past five years because of a gap in US gun ownership restrictions, according to a new report delivered to US lawmakers.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigative arm of the US Congress, released findings Monday showing that 963 people on the list tried to buy firearms between February 2004 and February 2009 and that 90 percent of them succeeded.
The GAO noted that US law does not automatically bar someone on the watch list from buying a firearm, which requires a disqualifying factor like a felony conviction or a violation of US immigration laws.
“This new report is proof positive that known and suspected terrorists are exploiting a major loophole in our law, threatening our families and our communities,” said Democratic Senator Frank Lautenberg, one of the lawmakers who requested the report.
“This ?terror gap? has been open too long and our national security demands that we shut it down,” said Lautenberg, who has introduced legislation to close the loophole.
The American Civil Liberties Union said in July 2008 that the list had swollen to more than one million names and was riddled with errors, something US authorities have flatly denied.
Lautenberg’s legislation would give the Attorney General the right to block a firearm or explosives purchase if a background check shows the purchaser to be a known or suspected terrorist and when the Justice Department believes that the person may use a firearm or explosives in connection with terrorism.
The legislation would also require the Attorney General to issue guidelines describing the circumstances under which such discretionary authority would be used.
–Agencies