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If you live in New Jersey and are named Robert Johnson, Kevin Johnson, James Rogers, or Mary Smith then I have bad news for you. \u00a0Governor Chris Christie just signed a bill making you a second class citizen.<\/p>\nIf you live in New Jersey and are named Robert Johnson, Kevin Johnson, James Rogers, or Mary Smith then I have bad news for you. \u00a0Governor Chris Christie just signed a bill making you a second class citizen.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you kidding me?\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n No I am not. \u00a0With a stroke of the pen, Governor Christie has stripped away the constitutional rights of thousands of New Jersey residents with no due process whatsoever.<\/p>\n \u201cHow did he do that?\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Among the 10 gun control bills that the New Jersey governor signed on August 8th was Assembly Bill 3687<\/a>. \u00a0This\u00a0bill prohibits all those whose name appears in the\u00a0Terrorist Screening Database, known colloquially as the\u00a0‘Terrorist Watch List’ from\u00a0obtaining firearms identification cards or permits to purchase a handgun.<\/p>\n \u201cSo what is wrong with that? \u00a0Aren’t we talking about terrorists here?\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Well … no … not really. \u00a0In reality, we are talking about a bloated database that often contains no identifying information other than a name. \u00a0And if your name has ever been used by a suspicious person as an alias, such as happened to Senator Ted Kennedy<\/a>, then you are out of luck. \u00a0No constitutional rights for you!<\/p>\n \u201cHow many people are affected by this?\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Well … \u00a0We don’t know exactly since the list is secret and you are not allowed to know that you are on it. \u00a0But we do know that all of the names I mentioned above<\/a>\u00a0(and many other common names)\u00a0are either on, or have been on, the Terrorist Watch List.<\/p>\n We also know that the government considers the cost to those innocent people to be an acceptable cost. \u00a0Donna Bucella, who ran the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center from its inception in 2003 until her departure in 2007, was quoted<\/a> as saying that \u201cIt’s a price society and anyone named Robert Johnson has to pay for security.<\/em><\/span>\u201d<\/p>\n When pressed on the point, she stated emphatically that the name \u201cRobert Johnson will never get off the list<\/span>\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cOk. \u00a0But just how big is the entire ‘Watchlist’?\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The Terrorist Watch List has expanded exponentially from the 16 persons who were prohibited from flying on September 11, 2001. \u00a0While the exact size of the Terrorist Watch List is unknown due to its classified nature, in March of 2008 the Department of Justice (DOJ) Audit Division released a report<\/a> stating that, at that time, the Terrorist Watch List contained over 1.1 million names and a 2007 report<\/a> from the DOJ Audit Division noted that the list was growing at a rate of over 20,000 names per month.<\/p>\n If we extrapolate that through 2013, we are looking at a list that encompasses well over 2 million names!<\/p>\n \u201cHow accurate is the list?\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The 2007 DOJ Audit Report also included the terrifying fact that a full 45% of records were incomplete or inaccurate at that time. It included this warning from Inspector General Glenn Fine: \u201c[I]naccurate, incomplete, and obsolete watchlist information increases the chances of innocent persons being … misidentified as a watchlist identity.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n We also know that an awful lot of innocent people have been caught up in the Terrorist Watch List since its inception. \u00a0This list includes Senators, Congressmen, airline pilots, federal law enforcement agents, and children.<\/p>\n The true absurdity of the situation is illustrated by the fact that a 5-year-old boy (now 13) named James Robinson was swept up in the wide net cast by the Terrorist Watch List.\u00a0 When asked by CNN in 2008 if he was a terrorist, young James replied sadly \u201cI don’t know.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n He may not be a terrorist … but now he is a second class citizen as far as New Jersey is concerned.<\/p>\n Other who might want to consider avoiding a move to New Jersey include:<\/p>\n \u201cDoes the government acknowledge the flaws in the ‘Watch List’?\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n Yes. \u00a0Where flying is concerned, the federal government implemented a redress process to allow those who are on the list to proactively take steps to minimize the impact on their ability to purchase airline tickets.<\/p>\n However, the New Jersey bill does not provide such any such option. \u00a0It simply denies the right to own firearms to “any person named on the consolidated Terrorist Watchlist maintained by [the] Terrorist Screening Center administered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.<\/span>”<\/p>\n \u201cDoes this bill do anything at all to enhance public safety?\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n No. \u00a0In fact, it negates one of the touted benefits of the Terrorist Watch List. \u00a0As\u00a0Chief District Judge Solomon Oliver, Jr. noted in the case of Shearson v. Holder,\u00a0\u201cThe Government does not reveal whether or not an individual is on a watchlist because <\/i>disclosing this information would undermine the purpose of terrorist watchlists<\/i><\/span>, which is to provide the Government with information about security threats without alerting security threats of the Government’s knowledge.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDo those who end up on the list get any due process at all?\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n No. \u00a0None at all. \u00a0They receive no notice of their placement on the list, no opportunity to present evidence, no chance to appeal. \u00a0As Senator Susan Collins of Maine noted,\u00a0\u201cThe evidence used to compile the watch list is often fragmentary and can be of varying degrees of credibility. It is not, in other words, the equivalent of a criminal history report.<\/span>\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n And yet Governor Christie has decided that inclusion on this secret government list is sufficient to deny the citizens of his state one of their fundamental rights.<\/p>\n \u201cDid Governor Christie know what he was doing to all those people?\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Don’t think for one minute that Governor Christie doesn’t understand the implications of what he did. \u00a0In a signing statement, he commented that\u00a0\u201cAs a former federal prosecutor, I understand the obligation of government to ensure the safety and security of its people … [however] …\u00a0I urge Congress to take steps to ensure that law-abiding American citizens are never swept into these databases.<\/span><\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n Good luck with that. \u00a0After having to call the Secretary of Homeland Security to resolve his months-long ordeal, Senator Ted Kennedy noted that\u00a0\u201cIf they have that kind of difficulty with a member of Congress, how in the world are average Americans, who are \u2026 caught up in this thing \u2026 going to be treated fairly and not have their rights abused?<\/span>\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n The answer is \u201cThey are not!<\/em><\/span>\u201d \u00a0Governor Christie knew exactly what he was doing. \u00a0He was catering to the anti-gun crowd and ignoring the fact that, in America, we consider people innocent until proven guilty.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat can we do about this?\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n I am glad you asked. \u00a0Governor Christie has clear aspirations for higher office and I suspect that he will be a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. When that comes to pass, remember that he supported depriving American citizens of a fundamental right based upon nothing more than their presence upon a secret government list.<\/p>\n Does that sound like a man you would want in the White House?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If you live in New Jersey and are named Robert Johnson, Kevin Johnson, James Rogers, or Mary Smith then I have bad news for you. \u00a0Governor Chris Christie just signed a bill making you a second class citizen. \u201cAre you … Continue reading \n