Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) today introduced the PROTECT Act, legislation to preserve records of gun sales for longer periods of time to aid law enforcement officials in preventing gun crimes and terrorist acts. Under current law, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) must destroy these records in most cases within 24 hours of allowing a gun sale to proceed.
Interesting, isn't it, that Lautenberg's own press release describes the proposed legislation's purpose as being “to preserve records of gun sales for longer periods of time . . . “–but the title of the bill refers only to “terrorist and criminal transactions”? That's pretty clear testimony to what Sen. Lautenberg thinks of gun buyers. Granted, “PROGS (Preserving Records of Gun Sales)” isn't nearly as catchy an acronym, but that's probably not a criterion to which much importance should be attached.
So how, specifically, would Sen. Lautenberg's proposed legislation “PROTECT” us?
Sen. Lautenberg’s legislation, the Preserving Records of Terrorist & Criminal Transactions (PROTECT) Act of 2009, would:
- require the FBI to retain for 10 years all records related to a NICS transaction involving a valid match to federal terrorist watch list records; and
- repeal the requirement that other background check records be destroyed after 24 hours, and instead require that the records of all non-terrorist transactions be maintained for 180 days.
Remember, the “federal terrorist watch list records” are riddled with errors, generated with precious little (if any) concern about due process, and that the appropriateness of one's presence on the list is not easily challenged, because of the lack of transparency. Read more
Source:Â St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner