According to a recent US government report, ‘people on the government’s terrorist watch list tried to buy guns nearly 1,000 times in the last five years, and federal authorities cleared the purchases 9 times out of 10 because they had no legal way to stop them.’ Having your name on the US government’s terrorist watch list is ‘not enough to render you unqualified to own dangerous weapons.’

According to the GAO study: “Under current law, there is no basis to automatically prohibit a person from possessing firearms or explosives because they appear on the terrorist watch list. Rather, there must be a disqualifying factor (i.e., prohibiting information) pursuant to federal or state law, such as a felony conviction or illegal-immigration status.”

The US government’s Terrorist Watch List, a post-9/11 Bush administration scheme, has been called a ‘comedy of errors.’ Findings of an audit by the Inspector General of the Department of Justice reveals more than 68,000 names on the terrorist watch list, of which 35 percent were outdated.

The terrorist watch list ‘includes inaccurate and outdated information, increasing the risk that innocent people will be misidentified as terrorists, while terrorists are overlooked.’

“The failure to place appropriate individuals on the watch list, or the failure to place them on the watch list in a timely manner, increases the risk that these individuals are able to enter and move freely about the country,” said the DOJ inspector general.

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Via AlterNet