The Patriot Post® · No-Fly, No-Buy Doesn't Fly

As we noted last week, the House will hold a vote this week on legislation dealing with gun purchases and terrorist watch lists. Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) is sponsoring a bill and said, “I have not met a single member of Congress who is in favor of terrorists being able to buy guns or explosives.” That’s an implicit rebuke of the typical rhetoric from the Demo-gogues, who like to hammer anyone opposed to their “no fly, no buy” proposals as wanting terrorists to get guns. “This isn’t a debate over whether terrorists should be able to purchase guns or explosives,” Zeldin explained. “This a debate over whether there should be due process for Americans.”

What do we mean? Well, here’s yet another story of an American who erroneously ended up on a no-fly list. As a state senator in California, Tom McClintock, now a U.S. representative, found himself unable to fly home because, he later found out, he shared a name with an Irish Republican Army terrorist. After months of wrangling, including help from the California Senate working with federal officials, McClintock finally had his name removed. Not every American has a state legislature at their disposal. “If your fundamental constitutional rights can be withdrawn at a bureaucrat’s whim” without due process, McClintock asserts, “then the Bill of Rights means nothing.” Just as Democrats would have it.

Don’t forget — Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), who led the anti-civil rights congressional sit-in last month, also found himself on the no-fly list. And he still wants to deny due process to Americans in the same situation.