Oh, you thought I meant a brown-skinned Muslim? Sorry, that’s not actually what most ISIS fighters look like.
Or maybe you were expecting one of those Syrian toddlers of doom the GOP is so frightened of?
NO, this was an angry, young, Southern male, radicalized by ISIS, who wanted to take full advantage of our idiot NRA-backed policies (as encouraged by terrorists) and launch a mass attack.
Wasn't he on the Terror Watch List?
The answer: it doesn’t matter.
Thanks to the NRA, over 2000 people on the terror watch list have legally bought guns since 2005. As incredible as it is to believe, there is a legal loophole in US law that allows suspected terrorists to purchase both firearms AND explosives.
There is a bi-partisan bill (Pete King and Diane Feinstein) to fix this loophole, and one would think the terrified republicans would want to embrace it. It is called the Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act. It's sole purpose is to DENY selling firearms and explosives to people on the terror list. The NRA opposes it.
The same GOP republicans that will not allow a 5-year old orphan to take refuge because they are soooo concerned about our safety actually oppose a bill named, and I can't stress this enough, the DENYING FIREARMS AND EXPLOSIVES TO DANGEROUS TERRORISTS ACT. It literally spells out what the **** it is supposed to do. And they oppose it. Even after the Paris attacks, King admits there is just "too much opposition".
The GAO reports that 91% of all suspected terrorists who tried to buy guns in America walked away with the weapon they wanted over the time period, with just a small handful rejected. Yet not a single gun buyer on the terror watch list was turned away because they posed a threat to America as a suspected terrorist!
Mike Pence, who just illegally denied a 5-year old entry into his state, (seriously, what is their hangup with 5-year olds??), over "safety" concerns, apparently has no problem with the NRA’s position on this. The man is so far up the NRA’s you-know-what that he is the only governor that allows them to train the National Guard.
Robert Bentley, the NRA-endorsed Alabama governor, who does whatever they tell him to do, put out a statement against the refugees saying "I will not stand complicit to a policy that places the citizens of Alabama in harm’s way.” Not a hint of irony.
How?
How can you defend your irrational fear of orphans and widows that you cowards would literally turn back into the hands of the Daesh, and yet simultaneously are okay with parsing out deadly weapons and explosives to suspected terrorists in your own states?
You can’t. That is why, when questioned about this, Mitch McConnell pleaded ignorance of the bill—even though it was proposed only nine months ago (and again in 2013).
There will be another attempt soon, but don't hold your breath while the NRA has the reins in Congress. The best thing that Democrats can do is make an issue out of this. The better thing to do would be if we could get the GOP out of Congress for good.
If only there was a way to trade in our Tea Party, gun nut conservatives for the Syrian refugees, our country would be a hell of a lot safer.
(H/T to my friend, the PoliticalSculptor)