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Update, May 5- Mayors Against Illegal Guns
calls on Congress to close the Terror Gap. New York City Mayor Michael R.
Bloomberg, NYPD Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, and Los Angeles Assistant Chief Sandy Jo MacArthur testify before the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee about the Terror Gap. A new report from the Government Accountability Office reveals that individuals on terrorist watch lists succeeded in purchasing guns and explosives over 1100 times in the last six years.
Read the Coalition Press Release
Read the Testimony from the Senate Hearing
Read the New GAO Report (in PDF)
Learn More and Take Action at www.TerrorGap.org
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November 2009 - The coalition is expanding its efforts to close the Terror Gap in federal law, which leaves the FBI powerless to block gun sales to terror suspects. In an ad in today's Washington Post and on the companion web site www.CloseTheTerrorGap.org, the coalition calls on Congress to learn from the tragedy at Fort Hood and close the Terror Gap once and for all.
Download the ad (in PDF)
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Seven years after 9/11, the federal government can stop suspects on terror watch lists from getting on airplanes, but it can't stop them from buying firearms.
In 2007, the Bush Administration asked Congress for legislation to close the Terror Gap, and Attorney General Eric Holder has endorsed this legislation on behalf of the Obama Administration. It's time for Congress act.
Read the coalition's letter to Congress (in PDF)
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The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report in May 2010
indicating that individuals on the terrorist watch list succeeded in purchasing
guns and explosives from licensed dealers 1,119 times between 2004 and 2010.
Read the GAO report (in PDF)
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During a November 2009 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Attorney
General Eric Holder indicated that the Department of Justice continues to
support legislation to give FBI the power to block gun and explosive purchases
by terror suspects. Such legislation had been drafted and endorsed by the
Department of Justice during the Bush administration.
Read the statements from the coalition co-chairs
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Closing the Terror Gap
WHAT IS THE TERROR GAP? The FBI currently has no authority to block firearm and explosives sales to terror suspects. After 9/11, it makes no sense that the federal government can't stop gun and explosive sales to some of the same people it thinks are too dangerous to get on a plane.
- A glaring gap in federal background checks: Right now federal law prohibits nine categories of dangerous persons from purchasing or possessing firearms. Remarkably, individuals on the terror watch lists are not among these prohibited purchasers.
EXAMPLES OF THE TERROR GAP:
- Purchases documented by GAO report: A 2010 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report shows that individuals on terror watch lists tried to buy guns and explosives 1,228 times during a six-year period (February 2004 - February 2010). On 1,119 occasions - 91 percent of attempts - the FBI was unable to block gun and explosive sales to suspected terrorists. 1
- Use of guns in terrorist incidents:
- Fort Hood shooting.
On November 5, 2009, 13 people were shot and killed and 30 others were
wounded by Major Nidal Hasan, a man who had been under investigation by the
FBI, suspected of having ties to terrorists. Hasan purchased his gun after
the FBI had investigated his suspicious activities, but the FBI agents who
ran the gun background check never communicated with the FBI agents who had
investigated Hasan.
- Quantico plot: On
July 27, 2009, the FBI arrested seven terror suspects for conspiring to
murder U.S. military personnel at the Marine Corps base in Quantico,
Virginia. Over several years, they had amassed an arsenal of assault rifles
and more than 26,000 rounds of ammunition. The ringleader, Daniel Patrick
Boyd, was under investigation by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, and in
recent years, Boyd had traveled to the Middle East to meet with militants
and plan various attacks.
- Little Rock shooting.
On June 1, 2009, Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad opened fire at a military
recruiting station in Little Rock, killing one private and wounding another.
At the time of the shooting, the FBI was investigating Muhammad after his
arrest in Yemen with a fake Somali passport. He was charged with murder and
16 counts of terrorist acts.
- Fort Dix plot. In
2007, six terror suspects were arrested for plotting to attack Fort Dix
after trying to buy M-16s, AK-47s, and handguns from an FBI informant. One
suspect pled guilty to providing firearms to illegal aliens. The other five
were convicted of conspiracy to kill U.S. military personnel.
- Empire State Building murders. On February 23, 1997, Ali Abu Kamal opened fire on the
observation deck of the Empire State Building with a handgun purchased from
a licensed dealer in Florida, killing one tourist and wounding six before
killing himself. A note in his pocket expressed hatred for the United
States, Great Britain, Israel, and France.
- Halberstam murder. On
March 1, 1994, Rashid Baz shot and killed 16-year old Ari Halberstam on the
Brooklyn Bridge. Baz had a machine gun, a 9 mm pistol, and a "street
sweeper" shotgun.
- CIA Headquarters attack. On January 25, 1993, Mir Aimal Kasi stopped at a red light near CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Shooting from point blank with an assault rifle he bought that month from a Chantilly, VA gun dealer, Kasi killed two CIA employees and wounded three others.
SOLUTIONS: Bills to close the terror gap are pending in Congress.
- Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Rep. Peter King (R-NY) introduced S.1317/H.R.2159, which gives DOJ discretion, subject to judicial review, to block sales to terror suspects.
- Once DOJ made such a determination, the terror
suspect would fail background checks, meaning they could not purchase guns
or explosives or hold a license to sell them.
- If the terror suspect knew about the determination,
it would be a crime to possess guns.
- DOJ could allow particular gun purchases to proceed to avoid tipping off the suspect.
- The Obama Administration Department of Justice supports passage of S.1317/H.R.2159. During the Bush Administration, DOJ endorsed nearly identical bills introduced in 2007.
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1 United States Government Accountability Office, "Firearm and Explosives Background Checks Involving Terrorist Watch List Records," no. GAO-10-703T (May 5, 2010), available at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d10703t.pdf.
Download this information (in PDF)
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Learn more about Closing the Terror Gap:
Read the Coalition's letter to Congress endorsing Terror Gap federal legislation
Read a GAO study on the sale of guns to terrorists
Read letters from the Department of Justice in support of the Lautenberg-King bill
Read the full text of Senator Lautenberg's bill, S.1317
Visit Senator Lautenberg's website for more information
Read the press release from the Coalition's September 17, 2007 event
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