{"id":3205,"date":"2010-05-07T16:24:18","date_gmt":"2010-05-07T21:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/?p=3205"},"modified":"2010-05-07T16:24:18","modified_gmt":"2010-05-07T21:24:18","slug":"nssf-responds-to-ny-times-government-watch-list-editorial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/nssf-responds-to-ny-times-government-watch-list-editorial\/3205\/","title":{"rendered":"NSSF Responds to NY Times &#8216;Government Watch List&#8217; Editorial"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a title=\"NY Times editorial\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2010\/05\/07\/opinion\/07fri1.html\" target=\"_blank\">Today&#8217;s editorial<\/a> in The  New York Times prompted this response from the National Shooting Sports  Foundation:<\/p>\n<p>To the Editor:<\/p>\n<p>After spending nearly a decade criticizing successive administrations  for disregarding the rights of American citizens suspected of  terrorism, the Times has now decided that some should be denied a  Constitutional right without due process (\u201cThe Gun Lobby\u2019s Long Shadow,\u201d  May 7, 2010).<\/p>\n<p>No one wants to see terrorists obtain firearms, period. Yet before  the Times, or anyone else, considers denying American citizens their  Constitutional rights, it\u2019s important to first examine the law  enforcement requirements currently in place that enable law enforcement  to protect Americans from terrorism.<\/p>\n<p>Anyone attempting to purchase a firearm from a retailer must first  undergo an FBI background check. \u00a0The prospective buyer&#8217;s name is also  cross-referenced against government watch lists. \u00a0If there is a match,  the law enforcement agency that placed the person on the list is  immediately contacted and provided an opportunity to determine any legal  basis to deny the transfer of the firearm and to take whatever law  enforcement measures they deem appropriate. This includes requesting  that the firearms retailer decline to sell the firearm, or to delay the  sale so law enforcement can monitor the person. \u00a0These measures properly  balance and respect both national security and the Second Amendment  rights of law abiding Americans who might wrongly be on the list.<\/p>\n<p>If legislation moves forward denying any individual on the \u201cwatch\u201d  list the right to purchase a firearm, the FBI background check would  also become a terrorist notification system. \u00a0If the sale was denied and  the customer was not otherwise disqualified, the terrorist would know  instantly that the government was monitoring him.<\/p>\n<p>As it stands, most people have no idea if they are on such a  government \u201cwatch\u201d list, why they might be on it, or how to get off of  it if they are wrongfully listed. This should ring alarm bells within  any individual or institution which values Constitutional protections.<\/p>\n<p>Using terrorism as an excuse to deny Constitutional rights to  law-abiding citizens is un-American. \u00a0The Times should agree.<\/p>\n<p>Sincerely,<\/p>\n<p>National Shooting Sports Foundation<\/p>\n<p>Steve Sanetti<\/p>\n<p>President &amp; CEO<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today&#8217;s editorial in The New York Times prompted this response from the National Shooting Sports Foundation: To the Editor: After spending nearly a decade criticizing successive administrations for disregarding the rights of American citizens suspected of terrorism, the Times has now decided that some should be denied a Constitutional right without due process (\u201cThe Gun [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[97,591,590],"class_list":["post-3205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-from-the-industry","tag-nssf","tag-ny-times","tag-steve-sanetti"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3205\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}