No Fly / No Buy?

Democrats want us to use the "No Fly" terrorist watch list to keep jihadis from buying weapons. They are half right.

Everyone agrees there absolutely must be a way to prevent jihadis, mental incompetents, criminals, etc. from buying weapons.  The problem is the current No Fly list is inconsistent with the constitution. Democrats like it that way.  Anyone can end up on that list and there is no way of tracing how they got there.  The people are not notified before being put on the list, so they only find out when trying to fly somewhere.  The list is not biometric and therefore subject to error.     Once on the list it is an Orwellian Kafkaesque nightmare to get off the list.  And the list could be politicized. Yes, the list could be politicized.

Sound familiar?

This is exactly like the IRS BOLO (be on the lookout) watch list which targeted Tea Party, Christian, conservative, and Republican non-profits that applied for tax exempt status.  Democrats politicized the IRS and used their BOLO list to keep conservative groups from raising money for the last few election cycles.  It was perhaps the most chilling abuse of government power in my lifetime and no one, including the president, has paid a price for it legally or politically.  

Republicans can be 100% certain that's exactly how a No Fly / No Buy list would work under another radical president.  Outspoken conservatives, constitutionalists, religious leaders, free marketers, NRA members, Bill of Rights advocates, etc. would soon find themselves stripped of their rights and unable to fly.

Fix the list.  Make it biometric.  Make it constitutional.  Apply due process.  Then use it to stop terrorists.

Watch Trey Gowdy make the due process case in 2015: (it's actually quite brilliant!)




One caveat:  Gowdy asks "Can you think of another constitutional right that is first chilled and then when you find out it's chilled you must then petition the government to get it back?"  He doesn't mention it, but this is exactly how the second amendment currently works.  It wasn't written that way, but that is how it has evolved and that is, I believe, it's major flaw.  (Details to follow...)