The Terror Gap

The Terror Gap refers to a federal loophole that allows people on the FBI's Terrorist Watchlist to legally buy guns.

Being in the FBI's database of those "known or reasonably suspected of being involved in terrorist activity" is not one of the reasons for being denied a gun purchase. Legislation has been proposed in Congress that would close this loophole.

Despite what would appear to be an easy vote, members of Congress, at least in part due to fear of the gun lobby, have consistently evaded closing the "terror gap."

The National Rifle Association of course opposes the measure (after all, their mission is to sell more guns, not to exclude a category of likely buyers), even though a poll by Republican pollster Frank Luntz found that 82% of NRA members support closing the gap. According to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who leads the effort of more than 500 Mayors Against Illegal Guns, "There is no good explanation of why Congress has failed to close this gap."

The NRA argument goes: "Rather than being aimed at terrorists, H.R. 2159 is intended to give the executive branch arbitrary, unaccountable power to stop loyal Americans from acquiring firearms."

But Bloomberg's response was, "This is not about the Second Amendment…. Our founding fathers did not write the Second Amendment to empower people who wanted to bring down a free state; they wrote it to protect people who could defend the security of a free state. Today, the security of our free state is being tested by terrorists. Congress needs to take common sense steps to strengthen law enforcement -- including closing the terror gap -- and to protect the American people from more attacks."

So the question becomes: Will Congress listen more to the mayors and to national security experts or will it be controlled again by the gun lobby. Stay tuned, but never underestimate the power of special interests like the NRA over Congress.