Bill Maher, ‘The NRA Writes Laws That Make It Harder to Pinpoint and Apprehend Terrorists.’

Last updated on April 24th, 2013 at 01:10 pm

Bill Maher pointed out that the NRA makes it harder to pinpoint and apprehend terrorists by opposing a gun registry and encoding gunpowder.

Brief clip of the beginning of Maher’s remarks at the end of this video:

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During a discussion of the Boston bombings, Bill Maher added, “I would like to note that the NRA writes laws that make it harder to pinpoint and apprehend terrorists. There’s the gun registry which would help. Encoding gunpowder, certainly would have been we something we could have used. Americans, 85 of them, get shot every day. I don’t want to make this about the NRA, or everything about the NRA, but this is the week that we did lose that gun bill, and I think I do the show mostly for people who are not political junkies like us, who want to watch a show at the end of the week and catch up on the news that they were probably too busy to catch up on during the week, and for those people who just hear that 90% of Americans wanted something. They wanted that background checks bill passed, and it couldn’t get through the Senate. I want to answer that question for them. How can something that ninety percent of people wanted, how can democracy work this badly?”

The answers that Maher’s panelists came up with included the NRA’s contributions to senators, the filibuster, and The Blaze’s Amy Holmes arguing that background checks really weren’t that popular.

Maher was right. According to a 2010 Government Accountability Office study, “From February 2004 through February 2010, FBI data show that individuals on the terrorist watchlist were involved in firearm or explosives background checks 1,228 times; 1,119 (about 91 percent) of these transactions were allowed to proceed because no prohibiting information was found—such as felony convictions, illegal immigrant status, or other disqualifying factors—and 109 of the transactions were denied.”

For years, the NRA has opposed collecting more data and strengthening background checks. After the attempted bombing of Times Square in 2010, New York officials pleaded with the NRA controlled Senate Republicans to strengthen the laws that allow those on the terror watch list to legally buy guns and explosives. A person can be deemed too dangerous to fly, but thanks to the NRA, can legally purchase guns and explosives.

Gun extremists will back the NRA’s position of just say no to everything because it fits in with their own personal extremism. Beyond the fact that 90% of Americans supported the background checks bill, the bigger problem is that the constant Republican caving to the NRA’s extremism is helping to arm terrorists.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association