Close the Terror Gap THIS

The mainstream media and their manipulators count on the fact that their audience has a short memory and limited bandwidth. The media mavens can make a fuss about some issue or another, then move on to something else when it fails to gain traction in the intended direction. For example, the Mayors Against Illegal Guns spent a good part of the summer rabbiting on about “The Terror Gap.” You know: the fact that people on the FBI’s Terrorist Watch could walk into a gun store and, provided they didn’t have a criminal record of mental issues, buy a gun! As we pointed out again and again and again, the FBI Terrorist Watch List is a joke, with no clear rules for inclusion and no established method for challenging a listing. And now, this . . .

The Inspector General’s A Review of the FBI’s Investigation of Certain Domestic Advocacy Groups [click here to download the report] is out, and the FBI isn’t the hero of the piece. ProPublica provides the precis:

The FBI in recent years opened investigations into some U.S. activists with little basis, unjustifiably extended the duration of the probes, improperly retained information about activist groups in its files, and classified its investigations of “nonviolent civil disobedience” as investigations into “acts of terrorism.”

Don’t you hate it when that happens? And here’s what happens next . . .

The report also found that that the FBI unnecessarily classified its probes as domestic terrorism investigations, even though some of the potential crimes were trespassing or vandalism — acts not normally considered to be terrorism. This classification resulted in several individuals improperly being placed on terrorism watchlists.

These are the people the Mayors want to trust to decide who should be automatically banned from purchasing firearms. Funnily enough, this report investigates the FBI’s transgression on the left side of the political spectrum. No word yet on the Agency’s investigations into militia groups and other gun-o-centric groups on the right. Yet. Rest assured, it’s the same deal. And that TTAG will call out the Mayors if—I mean, when—they try that shit again. Metaphorically speaking.