Report: 2,000 terror suspects have legally bought guns in US since 2004
Some lawmakers are working to close a loophole in gun laws that allows suspected terrorists to purchase guns legally.
A bullet hole in the window of the restaurant on Rue de Charonne, Paris, where terror attacks took place on Friday, Nov. 13, 2015.
Frank Augstein/AP
A report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) indicates that more than 2,000 terror suspects have been able to purchase guns legally聽between 2004 and 2014.
"Membership in a terrorist organization a person from possessing firearms or explosives under current federal law," GAO聽concluded in 2010, according to the Washington Post.
The GAO reported that at least 2,233 attempts were made by suspected terrorists to purchase firearms over that 10-year period, and that those attempts were successful 91 percent of the time.
Under federal law, individuals who have a history of felonies, domestic violence, or mental illness are prohibited from possessing a gun. But the federal government has no power to stop people on the FBI鈥檚 terrorist watchlist, which includes the no-fly list, from buying firearms.
But placement on the terrorism watchlist is controversial. The that, the guidelines for putting people on the list don鈥檛 require any evidence they are actually linked to a terrorist organization.
鈥淚nstead of a watchlist limited to actual known terrorists, the government has built a vast system based on the unproven and flawed premise that it can predict if a person will commit a terrorist act in the future,鈥� says Hina Shamsi, the head of the ACLU鈥檚 National Security Project. 鈥淥n that dangerous theory, the government is secretly blacklisting people as suspected terrorists and giving them the impossible task of proving themselves innocent of a threat they haven鈥檛 carried out.鈥� Shamsi who reviewed the [guidelines] document added, 鈥淭hese criteria should never have been kept secret.鈥�
Over the years, efforts have been made by lawmakers to close the loophole and prevent suspected terrorists from purchasing firearms and explosives. But because of strong opposition by gun rights supporters,聽none has been successful.
鈥淭he National Rifle Association which opposed previous bills, argued that the watchlist because it includes people who are still being investigated by authorities,鈥� ABC News reports.
This year, there is a new piece of legislation, named the "Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2015" sponsored by Democratic聽Sen.聽Dianne Feinstein of California and Rep.聽Peter T. King (R) of New York that, 鈥渨ould prevent several hundred gun purchases by suspected terrorists each year, and it includes provisions to if they believe they were placed on the watchlist in error,鈥� Washington Post writer Christopher Ingraham points out.
On Wednesday, the NRA spoke out and denied the allegations that the lobby group is against a law seeking to stop terror suspects from buying guns聽in the US.聽
鈥淭he National Rifle Association wants to prevent terrorists from obtaining any deadly weapon and to suggest otherwise is offensive and wrong,鈥� NRA spokeswoman Jennifer Baker聽. 鈥淚t is not surprising that anti-gun politicians and publications are distorting the facts to push a gun control agenda.鈥�
The conversation on gun control has gained renewed traction following a terrorist attack in Paris last week that left at least 129 people dead and hundreds injured.聽