Democrats push to prevent gun sales to those on terror list

WASHINGTON -- People on the U.S. government's terrorist watch list often can't board commercial airliners, but they can walk into a gun store and legally buy pistols and powerful military-style rifles.

Sensing a political opening from Nov. 13's Paris attacks, Democrats are renewing calls for Congress to pass legislation aimed at preventing terrorists from buying guns. Similar bills -- including a post-9/11 measure backed by the Justice Department under Republican President George W. Bush -- have been stymied for years, thanks in large part to opposition from gun-rights groups and congressional Republicans.

According to a March analysis by the Government Accountability Office, people on the FBI's consolidated Terrorist Watchlist passed the background check required to buy firearms more than 90 percent of the time, with more than 2,043 approvals between 2004 and 2014. The office is an investigative branch of Congress.

The FBI is notified when a background check for the purchase of firearms or explosives generates a match with the watch list, and agents often use that information to step up surveillance on terror suspects. Under federal law, however, association with a terrorist organization doesn't prohibit a person from possessing firearms or explosives.

About 420,000 people are on the list administered by the FBI's Terrorist Screening Center, though only about 2 percent of those are U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents legally able to buy guns.

The new Democratic push, which is considered unlikely to succeed in the GOP-controlled Congress, is focused on legislation by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., that would let the attorney general compile a list of known and suspected terrorists. Federally licensed gun dealers would be barred from selling firearms to them if government officials believed they might use the weapon for terrorism.

Sales by gun dealers are prohibited to 10 categories of people, including those with felony convictions or serious mental illnesses. The proposed legislation would not prevent transactions that don't involve licensed dealers, such as those between private individuals at gun shows or many sales online, which don't involve background checks.

Feinstein introduced her bill in February, well before the mass killings in Paris injected new life into terrorism and public safety as top-tier political issues.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Feinstein's bill echoes legislation that the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., proposed repeatedly over the last decade. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., has also long pushed the same legislation to no avail.

Republicans took advantage of voters' newly aroused security concerns this week, when they easily pushed legislation through the House preventing Syrian and Iraqi refugees from entering the U.S. until the administration tightens restrictions on their entry.

That issue put Democrats on the defensive. Forty-seven of them voted for the bill, ignoring a veto threat by President Barack Obama, who said the current screening system is already strong and accused Republicans of fanning fear among worried voters.

Democrats are hoping to turn the political tables on Republicans by focusing the debate instead on terrorists' access to guns.

"I think this is a no-brainer," said Feinstein, a longtime gun control supporter. "If you're too dangerous to board a plane, you're too dangerous to buy a gun."

Congress has yet to vote on Feinstein's proposal or on nearly identical ones that have been introduced for years. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has not said whether he would be open to allowing a vote.

The GOP-run House has not held any votes on major gun control measures since the killings of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., did not respond directly when asked Thursday if he favored barring people on the watch list from buying guns, saying, "We are just beginning this process of reassessing all of our security stances."

The National Rifle Association signaled this week it will oppose Feinstein's bill, as it did those before it.

NRA spokeswoman Jennifer Baker pointed to past instances where innocent people were added to the watch list either in error or as the result of tenuous ties to others involved in suspicious activities. She stressed that the NRA doesn't oppose denying terrorists firearms, but said the group wants to ensure that Americans who are wrongly on the list are afforded their constitutional right to due process.

"It is appalling that anti-gun politicians are exploiting the Paris terrorist attacks to push their gun-control agenda and distract from President Obama's failed foreign policy," Baker said.

Under current law, people can try persuading the Justice Department to remove their names from a terror list or can file lawsuits challenging their inclusion.