There was a time when liberals were skeptical of the no-fly list. Back during the Bush administration, the Democrats were rightly critical. The list, as In These Times pointed out in 2002, shortly after its inception, is a dangerous tool that can be turned against political opponents as easily as it could be used to keep flyers safe.
And yet, Democrats have opted to make the no-fly list a focus of their current gun-control efforts.
Here’s what President Obama said during his Oval Office speech last night:
To begin with, Congress should act to make sure no one on a no-fly list is able to buy a gun. What could possibly be the argument for allowing a terrorist suspect to buy a semi-automatic weapon? This is a matter of national security.
Democrats have been pushing this line for the past few weeks, including
a failed effort in the Senate — and a level of hyperbole that ties a real need for regulation of firearms to an unaccountable leftover from the Bush administration. Here’s Nancy Pelosi:
“It is unconscionable that a suspected terrorist can enter a store and leave with the gun of his choice. We must close this terrorist gun loophole and act to strengthen our system of background checks.”
It sounds reasonable, right? After all, we know that everyone on the no-fly list is a threat. Or acknowledged threat. Or might be a threat. Except that’s not the case. Despite reforms, as the ACLU points out,
the standards for inclusion on the No Fly List are unconstitutionally vague, and innocent people are blacklisted without a fair process to correct government error. Our lawsuit seeks a meaningful opportunity for our clients to challenge their placement on the No Fly List because it is so error-prone and the consequences for their lives have been devastating.
The no-fly list is problematic on a lot of levels — there is a lack of transparency and due process, potential political interference, ethnic bias, etc. We should be having a discussion about whether it is even a useful tool, rather than expanding its use into other areas.
Author: hankkalet
Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie.
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Hank Kalet 