Salem News: Moulton Introduces No-Fly, No-Buy Bill
SALEM — After participating in a daylong sit-in on the House floor last week with other Democrats pushing for a vote on gun reforms, Salem Congressman Seth Moulton on Friday helped introduce a bipartisan bill he and others said would prevent suspected terrorists on "No-Fly" lists from buying guns.
The bill was introduced less than two weeks after the worst mass shooting in modern American history in Orlando, Florida, and after a string of high-profile mass shootings in recent years, including one that left 14 dead in San Bernardino, California.
On June 12, authorities said an American-born Muslim of Afghani descent, who reportedly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, opened fire in a gay nightclub in Orlando, killing 49 people. Omar Mateen, the gunman, was reportedly on the FBI's terrorist watch list in 2013 and 2014.
"In the wake of the Orlando massacre, we have heard from our communities, we have heard from people we represent, and they have told us that thoughts and prayers are not enough, that we need action, that Congress ought to take action to keep our communities safe," said Moulton during a press conference Friday in Washington, D.C.
Moulton said shared values brought the bill's co-sponsors together — values such as the need to keep their communities safe, a belief in the protection of the Second Amendment, and the need to protect civil liberties and due process.
"And the reforms we are talking about," he said, "the simple concept that if you are too dangerous to fly, we have already said we will not allow you on an airplane, that you shouldn't also be able to buy a gun."\
Moulton was also among a group of lawmakers who walked out of a moment of silence in Congress held to remember the Orlando victims. He was unavailable for comment on Monday.
About the bill\
The bill, H.R. 5576, would block the sale of firearms to those on the "No-Fly" and Secondary Security Screening or Selectee lists, with the latter designed to single out passengers for additional screening. Both lists are a subset of the much larger FBI's Terrorist Screening Database. Reports say most of those on the lists are not U.S. citizens.
The bill was introduced by Moulton and several other congressmen, both Democrats and Republicans. It is the House companion to the Terrorist Firearms Prevention Act sponsored by U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.
The measures have raised concerns among some Republicans about denying a person's Second Amendment rights based on secretive lists that are full of errors, and bureaucratic procedures to get off the lists. The American Civil Liberties Union also has been critical of the No-Fly list.
Proponents of the bill said it would create a process for Americans and legal residents to appeal their denial of buying a gun in federal court.
The bill carries protections for counter-terrorism investigations, allowing the Attorney General to let a gun sale go through when blocking the sale might impede an investigation.
The bill also has a five-year "look back" provision, which would alert the Attorney General and state and local law enforcement about anyone who is, or was, on the much broader Terrorist Screening Database when buying a gun from a licensed dealer.
"If this provision had been law, the Orlando attack could have been prevented," said Curbelo, during the press conference. He said Mateen had been under investigation for 10 months.
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