The Profiling We Should Be Doing

In the last several months we've had mass shootings and terrorist attacks committed by a white supremacist in Charleston, an anti-abortion nut in Colorado Springs (where a kook with a gun walked down the street shooting random people not long before), an angry white loser in Umpqua, Oregon, another angry white loser in Lafayette, Louisiana, and Muslims in San Bernadino.

There are so many that it's impossible to remember them all: they're coming so fast and furiously that flags are still being flown at half-mast for the victims one of mass shooting when the next one goes down.

Republicans, naturally, only paid attention to the San Bernadino attack. They are on a rampage, demanding that we profile Muslims, put them in computer databases and surveil mosques.

Clearly, that would do little to stem the tide of mass shootings: most of them are committed not by Muslims, but by "regular" Americans, mostly white, mostly male.

But all mass shooters have one thing in common: guns.

So instead of wasting time and manpower surveiling mosques and churches, or collecting the phone and Internet search records of all Americans we should be profiling people with an interest in guns.

This idea came to after I saw this article about about the San Bernadino shooters practicing killing people at a gun range.

We should be watching people who frequent the temples of death: gun stores, shooting ranges, and gun shows.

Instead of harassing people at their places of worship, where the vast majority of people abhor all violence, we should be watching people who frequent the temples of death: gun stores, shooting ranges, and gun shows. We should be watching who buys lots of weapons, and large quantities of ammunition. Instead of monitoring everyone's Internet activity, we should be watching who visits websites that sell guns without background checks, bulletproof vests and other tactical gear. We should be monitoring people who visit Internet forums that discuss weapons, especially ones that describe how to modify semiautomatic weapons for full auto.

The right argues that such surveillance is unconstitutional, that it would violate our right to privacy and the Second Amendment. Which is interesting, because ever since Row v. Wade, the right has insisted that the Constitution doesn't include a right to privacy. And monitoring all email and Internet traffic, which the vast majority of Republicans think we should be doing, is a completely unwarranted invasion of privacy. And surveiling mosques and churches (because churches are a haven for anti-abortion terrorists) would infringe on several clauses of the First Amendment.

We also need to crack down on straw purchases of guns. The San Bernadino shooters got some of their weapons through friends. The vast majority of guns used in crimes in big cities come from states with lax gun laws (Georgia, for example). How can gun store owners selling weapons to shady characters in Southern states be certain that those guns will never be resold to terrorists?

Another source of guns used in crime is burglary: criminals break into people's houses for the express purpose of stealing cash, jewelry and guns. All gun owners should be required to store all their weapons and ammo in locked safes. This would also reduce the number of accidental shootings by children, as well as cut down on the number of suicides. (I mean, a house flying the Confederate flag might as well have a sign out front that says "Come steal my guns while I'm at work!")

Monitoring the Internet and mosques for terrorists is an impossible task. Flagging every jerk who writes a flaming "Obama should be gunned down like a dog"  or "Death to Amerika" post, or attends Friday prayers will generate millions of leads, far too many to track down.

Monitoring people involved with guns will help to narrow down the pool of suspects to people who have the wherewithal to commit terrorist acts. And it will also help law enforcement stop idiots like the one who shot up the theater in Colorado.

Finally, it is the height of idiocy that Congress forced the FBI to delete records of gun purchase background checks. These records should be retained indefinitely and cross-checked against anyone who is subsequently put on the terrorist watch list, listed as mentally ill, commits domestic abuse or any other crimes.

Guys like Trump like to think they're tough when they say, "We're going to have to do some hard things to stop terrorism." They're referring to torturing suspects and violating the privacy of every person in the country. They say, "If Muslims aren't doing anything wrong, they shouldn't be worried about the government watching their mosques."

But when it comes to keeping an eye on people who buy and use weapons of mass murder, conservatives suddenly get all squishy and liberal about violating Constitutional rights.