The Press Enterprise - Gun control: Pete Aguilar joins call for closing "terrorist loophole'

News Article

By Jeff Horseman

Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Redlands, joined gun control advocates Thursday, April 7 in calling for Congress to close what critics say is a loophole that allows suspected terrorists to legally buy firearms.

Gun control supporters say that under current law, those on the FBI's terrorist watch list can still legally buy firearms. In a phone conference with reporters, Aguilar said he had just voted on a bill to close the loophole when he learned of the Dec. 2 terror attack in San Bernardino that killed 14 and injured more than 20.

"This is a common sense step that Congress has an obligation to take to make America safer," said Aguilar, who represents San Bernardino. "There are changes we can make to stop future attacks and we have to act. This has to stop. We can't wait any longer."

President Barack Obama also called for the loophole's closure in the wake of the San Bernardino shootings.

The assailants in the San Bernardino attack, Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, were not on the watch list. Neither was Enrique Marquez Jr. of Riverside, who faces a multitude of federal charges after authorities said he lied on ATF forms to buy rifles that were used in the attack.

Aguilar was joined by Mark Kelly, a retired astronaut and husband of former Arizona congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who was critically wounded during a 2011 mass shooting. Giffords and Kelly founded Americans for Responsible Solutions, which seeks to prevent gun violence.

"This is a national problem that demands a solution from Congress and that solution is pretty simple," Kelly said.

Statistics offered at the conference included a poll showing that 82 percent of Americans support closing the loophole. According to advocates, known or suspected terrorists have sought to purchase guns or explosives from dealers more than 2,200 times and have been successful 91 percent of the time.

Opposing the effort to change the law is the National Rifle Association. The NRA's Institute for Legislative Action has argued that further legislation is unnecessary because 95 percent of people on the watch list already are prohibited from buying firearms.

The watch list is overly broad and adds people for questionable reasons, such as their concerns about abortion or illegal immigration, the NRA said. "A constitutionally protected right cannot be taken away on the basis of a secretive or unsubstantiated accusation," read a 2011 NRA article on legislation similar to what Aguilar and Kelly are seeking.

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