The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs recently held a hearing on the legislation, first proposed by the Bush administration in 2007 and now sponsored by Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., that would give the attorney general the discretion to prevent the sale of firearms to individuals on the terror watch list.

A recent Government Accountability Office report stated that, between 2004 and 2010, people on the terrorist watch list tried to purchase guns and explosives 1,228 times and succeeded 1,119 times because “no prohibiting information was found — such as felony convictions, illegal immigrant status, or other disqualifying factors,” Eileen R. Larence, director of the GAO’s homeland security and justice section, said in prepared testimony.

“This hearing on what Congress and the federal government can do to keep firearms out of the hands of terrorists was scheduled long ago but its urgency has certainly been made clear by the events of the past four days,” Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn.,  said at the May 5 hearing, referring to the attempted Time Square bombing. Lieberman also pointed to the shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, last November, and a shooting incident in Little Rock, Ark., last June, as “terrorist attacks on America since 9/11 that have been carried out and taken American lives” by using firearms.

“It is true that homegrown terrorists are generally less sophisticated than those sponsored and trained overseas by Al Qaeda, they may also – particularly if acting alone – be harder to detect and stop,” Liberman said. “And the easy availability of lethal weapons ensures that these homegrown terrorists can legally obtain sufficient firepower to cause terrible damage.”

He called for the bill to be enacted “as quickly as possible to close this dangerous loophole before another suspected terrorist is able to buy firearms legally and use them to kill Americans.”

But  Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine,  raised constitutional questions about using the terror watch list to restrict the right to purchase a firearm. She posed three questions for consideration:

• Are appropriate protections included within the watchlist process to justify the denial of a constitutional right?
• If not, what procedural protections should be afforded those who are erroneously denied the ability to purchase a firearm?
• What guidelines are necessary to constrain the Attorney General’s discretion to prevent law-abiding Americans from purchasing a firearm?

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg testified that FBI agents should have the authority to block sales of guns and explosives to those on the terror watch lists, citing two examples of thwarted attacks against New York City in the past year in which terrorists had purchased guns and explosives. He testified that a bipartisan coalition of 500 mayors supports such legislation and urged Congress to also make background checks necessary before guns can be purchased at a gun show.

Aaron Titus, privacy director of the Liberty Coalition, testified against proposed legislation, saying it would  “strip citizens of their enumerated constitutional right to bear arms without any meaningful due process and create a national firearms registry.”

He noted that those convicted of terrorism, as felons, would not be allowed to own guns under current law.

New York Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J., Rep. Peter T. King, R-N.Y.,  and senior officials from the FBI, GAO and the Los Angeles Police Department also testified before the committee.

Further reading: Written testimony and webcast (also available on C-SPAN), GAO report (PDF),  S.1317 “Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2009”, S.2820 “Preserving Records of Terrorists & Criminal Transactions Act of 2009”