WASHINGTON, D.C– Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY), Ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, lost a 17-29 vote on her amendment to the FY2017 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations bill that would have blocked known or suspected terrorists from purchasing firearms.
“It is common sense that individuals involved in terrorist activity should not be permitted to purchase firearms,” said Lowey. “The consequences of failing to close this gaping loophole in public safety are almost unimaginable. Congress must summon the will to reject specious arguments by the gun lobby and take this simple step to prevent a tragedy and keep American communities safe.”
According to Jonas Oransky, Counsel to Everytown for Gun Safety, “Suspected terrorists on government watch lists bought guns more than 2,000 times in the past 11 years — all because the FBI had no authority to intervene. And today, yet again, members of this House of Representatives want to block our law enforcement from stopping those dangerous sales from going through—even though 70 percent of NRA members believes we should keep terrorists from getting guns.”
Current law prohibits individuals from purchasing firearms if he or she has a history of conviction of a serious crime, mental illness, drug abuse, restraining orders, domestic abuse, or an outstanding warrant or indictments, or several other criteria. However, there is nothing in current law preventing individuals known or suspected of involvement in terrorist activity from purchasing deadly weapons like semi-automatic military style rifles.
The Lowey amendment would have allowed the Attorney General to block the purchase of a firearm by individuals on the federal government’s terror watch list. The list, maintained by the National Counter Terrorism Center (NCTC), includes roughly 25,000 U.S. persons, and its accuracy is constantly improving. Since 2011, approximately 166,000 names have been removed from the database because they no longer fit the criteria for inclusion.
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In another anti-terror initiative, Congressman Brad Sherman (D-California) and Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-North Carolina) lead a bipartisan letter to European Union Ambassador H.E. David O’Sullivan, urging the European Union to designate a Mahan Air as a terrorist entity. Mahan Air, an Iranian airline which has already been designated a terrorist entity by the United States, provides material support to terrorist organizations and lethal aid to Assad’s regime in Syria. A designation by the European Union would prevent Mahan Air from flying to and from Europe.
“Preventing Mahan Air from flying to Europe would send a clear message to Iran that the EU is committed to countering Iran’s support for terrorism and those that have caused such grave suffering in Syria,” reads a portion of the letter. “We urge you to work with European governments to promptly end Mahan Air’s operations in Europe, and to signal to European businesses that the EU will remain vigilant in acting against Iranian companies supporting terrorism and Assad’s regime.”
Several key members of Congress signed the letter, including the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the Subcommittee on the Middle East, and the Subcommittee on Terrorism and Nonproliferation, as well as the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Europe. The Chairmen of the Terrorism Financing Task Force and the House Homeland Security Committee also signed the letter.
In addition to McHenry and Sherman, signers included Reps. Edwared R. Royce, Eliot L. Engel, Robert Pittenger, Ted Deutch, Michael G. Fitzpatrick, Lois Frankel, Ted Poe, Albio Sires, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, William R. Keating, Peter T. King, David N. Cicilline, Randy K Weber, Sr., Grace Meng, Paul Cook, Brendan F. Boyle, French Hill, Ron DeSantis, Alan S. Lowenthal, Ann Wagner, Gregory W. Meeks, Michael T. McCaul, Ted S.Yoho, Lee M. Zeldin, David Schweiker, and Tom Marino.
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Preceding were based on news releases from Reps. Nita Lowey and Brad Sherman. Comments intended for publication in the space below MUST be accompanied by the letter writer’s first and last name and by his/ her city and state of residence (city and country for those outside the United States.)