An interesting point just came up in the military tribunal hearings (but I missed which senator brought it up - anybody know?). The topic was the ready availability of assault weapons to terrorists, and the ease of purchase of all kinds of weapons at gun shows. The senator asked Ashcroft why we don't pass better background check regulations at gun shows - since the goal is to provide the Attorney General with all of the tools he needs to find terrorists, wouldn't this be an excellent addition to his arsenal (if you'll forgive the pun)? Ashcroft was painted into a bit of a corner, given that the Bush administration is the least likely of any in history to infringe upon the rights of its gun-toting constituency. He hedged for a minute, said that federally-licensed dealers must perform background checks at gun shows under the Brady Law, but wouldn't accede to any more, even when the initial senator pointed out that that is just a small portion of the problem. Interesting how we're so quick to forget about amendments four through eight, but number two, boy, that's a keeper.
That noise you just heard was me stepping off my soapbox.
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