Individuals on TSA's No-fly List Have Legally Purchased Firearms in the US

Earlier this week, the US General Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on the use of terrorist watch lists to screen firearms purchases with some truly stunning facts about gun purchases by potential terrorists. In short, persons one of the key US government terrorist watch lists can legally buy firearms in the US. Surprisingly, membership in a terrorist organization or in a suspected terrorist organization does not prohibit a person from legally buying or possessing firearms or explosives under current US federal law, and at least a few individuals on the TSA's no-fly list have been allowed to purchase firearms in the US after passing a required FBI background check. To put this surprising reality in a broader context, we'll first provide a very brief overview how firearm purchases are approved in the US.

Who can buy firearms in the US
Laws vary widely across the US, but in general, it is possible for an adult to legally purchase guns either from a dealer who has a federal license to sell firearms, or through a sale between private individuals. Anyone making a transaction through a licensed dealer is subject to an FBI background check.

Background checks and firearms dealers
If someone wants to purchase a firearm from a federally licensed firearms dealer, that person must pass a background check. The database used for this background check is the the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). If the NICS database indicates if a potential buyer is in one or more of the categories that would disqualify that person from purchasing a firearm from a licensed dealer. Those categories include being convicted of a crime or being under indictment for a crime punishable by more than one year in prison, being in the US illegally, or having been adjudicated as a mental defective or committed to a mental institution (see 18 USC §922 for details).

Terrorist databases and the NICS database
The NICS database includes information from the FBI's Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB), which has about 400,000 names, and is the database used to create the TSA's no-fly list. The TSDB includes both US and non-US citizens.

Terrorist watch lists and gun purchases
According to the GAO report (GAO-10-703T), between February 2004 and Februray 2010, there were 1,228 occasions where individuals in the FBI's Terrorist Screening Database were involved in firearms or explosives background checks. Of those attempted purchases, 1,119 (about 91%) were allowed to proceed. These transactions involved about 650 individuals, with about 450 of them involved in multiple transactions, and six involved with 10 or more transactions.

Can terrorists buy guns in the US?
The simple answer is that when it comes to gun purchases through a licensed firearms dealer, merely being a terrorist, or more precisely, being a person who is listed in the FBI's Terrorist Screening Database, does not disqualify a person from purchasing firearms.

Has anyone on the no-fly list purchased a firearm in the US?
Incredibly, the answer is yes. The GAO report stated that several transactions that occurred between March 2010 and February 2009 involved an unspecified number of individuals who were also on the TSA's no-fly list, and in every case the transaction was allowed to proceed. The report did not mention if there were any similar transactions during the rest of the time period covered by the report.

What do you think about firearms purchase restrictions for terrorists
At present, being on a terrorist watch list, or even being on the no-fly list, will not prevent someone from passing required background checks for firearms purchases. Here at AirSafeNews.com, we would like to know what you think about this situation, and also what you think should be done to limit either the purchase or possession of firearms by anyone who is on the TSA's no fly list, the FBI's Terrorist Screening Database, or on any of the other key airline security and terrorist databases. Feel free to leave comments below:

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Photo credit: TSA

What Are the Key Airline Security and Terrorists Databases?

With the recent arrest of a suspect in the failed bombing of Northwest flight 253, one of the questions asked was why was this person allowed to get on an airplane if his name was in one of the US databases of suspected terrorists? The short story is that the suspect would have been barred from boarding if he were on a very specific list called the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA's) No-fly list. He would have been subject to extra scrutiny, but not necessarily barred from boarding, if he were on the TSA's Selectee list.

The suspect was on a much larger list of people with terrorists ties, but being on that list doesn't lead to increased TSA scrutiny. What follows is a very brief description of these three databases, plus a fourth database, that are relevant to the recent bombing situation.

Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE)
This is the US government's central repository of information on international terrorist activities. The database includes people who commit terrorist activities, who plan such activities, or perform supporting activities such as fund raising providing safe houses. The suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was added to this database last month, and there are about 500,000 unique individuals in the database, of which 95% are non-US citizens. For more details, you can view the fact sheet on this database.

Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB)
only individuals who are known or reasonably suspected to be or have been engaged in conduct constituting, in preparation for, in aid of, or related to terrorism. This database consolidates information that used to be located in several different US government agencies. It is more restrictive than the TIDE database, and contains about 400,000 names. The suspect in the bombing was not one of them. The FBI has a list of frequently asked questions about this database.

Selectee List
Maintained by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), this database contains the names of individuals who must undergo additional security screening before being permitted to board an aircraft. This list, which has about 14,000 people, is a subset of the TSDB.

No-fly List
As the name implies, this is a list of people who are not allowed to board an airliner. Like the Selectee List, this No-fly list is maintained by the TSA and is a subset of the TSDB. This list has fewer than 4,000 names.

So far, the US government has admitted that there was insufficient information available on the suspect to place him in any of the last three lists, including the no-fly list. Also, the suspect's US entry visa, which was granted in 2008 before he was placed on the TIDE list, was not restricted or revoked after being placed on that list.