The Times Just Can't Get Over Itself

In keeping with the predominant theme for today, we continue on with our 'deny due process' theme by bringing you an op-ed from the New York Times.

They too can't believe that because your name may appear on a super secret list that you have no way of knowing you're on and have no way of getting it off, you should be denied a basic civil right.

While they are correct that you can be barred from boarding a plane if your name appears on this 'list', you have no constitutional right to fly on a privately owned aircraft. Your right to move freely hasn't been abridged, although it may have been cramped a little. No, they use this argument to push the idea that because the government thinks you can't be trusted to walk down a jetway you can't be trusted to own a firearm.

43,533,000 NICS checks were run during the time frame mentioned (2004-2008) in the linked piece. Of those 43.5 million checks, 676,000 (or 1.5%) were denied for a myriad of reasons. The Times claims 963 people who appeared on the watch list attempted to purchase a firearm (98 of whom were declined, or 10%) and were not blocked. Now, if I crunch the numbers here, those 963 people represent a statistically insignificant amount of overall background checks conducted between 2004 and 2008.

So according to the NYT, a statistical anomaly is reason enough to screw the law-biding out of a civil right without due process. But suggest that they should have to register their keyboard, and LOOK OUT!