For America’s gun owners, including the 22.3 million new first-time gun owners since 2020, the latest shocking news about former U.S. Representative and former Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) being placed on the U.S. Government’s Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) Quiet Skies “list” should be gravely concerning.
The knowledge that former Congresswoman Gabbard was on the Quiet Skies “list” only came to light because of whistleblowers concerned of political retribution for her outspoken stances against the Biden-Harris administration. The track record of the federal government and watchlists is dismal. Federal agencies have abused these lists which are ripe for targeting political opposition – including Second Amendment supporters and gun owners.
‘Clear Act of Political Retaliation’
The quick recap is that former Rep. Gabbard, recently had some choice words for the Biden-Harris administration on Fox News and criticized the now-Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris as a weak candidate for holding flawed positions. That’s her First Amendment right to do so.
Show host Laura Ingraham pointed out the questionable timing of Rep. Gabbard’s placement on a government watchlist, saying, “So what exactly did Tulsi Gabbard do to get added to the terrorist watch list? It came the day after she criticized the Biden administration…How does this make you feel?”
The former congresswoman was blunt. “Laura, this is a pure act of political retaliation. There’s no other way to put it,” Rep. Gabbard said. “The very next day, after my conversation with you on the air warning the American people about how dangerous a Kamala Harris presidency could be, I was placed on this domestic terror watchlist, which is called the ‘Quiet Skies’ list under the Department of Homeland Security… To now have my own government now turn around and put me on a domestic terror watch list, it hits to the core and is the ultimate sense of betrayal.”
Rep. Gabbard also explained that “everything changed” for her and her family since being added to the watchlist on July 23. They endure excessive hours long security screenings at airports and have multiple federal air marshals on their flights. Rep. Gabbard explained the major concern is the unknown, saying, “This is the real pain and stress that’s been caused both to me and my family by this whole situation … day and night wondering if and what government institution and agency is monitoring my phone calls, surveilling me in my movement in my travels, knowing that they may be looking for some kind of excuse or derogatory action to come after me.”
Sound Familiar?
New guns owners, which comprise a Florida-sized population surge since 2020, might be unfamiliar with how some in the federal government treat gun owners, their private information and financial transactions. It’s not limited to the federal government. States that are hostile to gun rights have their own track record of abusing “lists” of gun owners.
In 2022, California officials apologized after a trove of private personal information of concealed carry permit holders was “leaked.” The sensitive information included the names, dates of birth, gender, race, driver’s license numbers and addresses of permit holders. That data leak also included the type of permit issued, indicating if the permit holder was a member of law enforcement or a judge.
In Washington, D.C., the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) admitted to U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) that it violated citizens’ Fourth Amendment rights when it collected the credit card purchase history from banks and credit card companies of individuals who purchased firearms and ammunition in the days surrounding Jan. 6, 2020. This all happened while gun control activists and antigun media personalities were pushing financial institutions to implement a Merchant Category Code (MCC) for credit card purchases at firearm stores. FinCEN would be the agency to handle all those “suspicious activity reports” from the credit card companies regarding those firearm-related purchases.
Treasury’s FinCEN had no cause, and sought the information without a warrant, to place law-abiding citizens on a government watchlist only because they exercised their Second Amendment rights to lawfully purchase firearms and ammunition. This is also why NSSF supports state and federal legislation to block financial institutions from requiring the use of a firearm-specific tracking code.
Setting the Table
Americans who support the Constitution and the right to keep and bear arms should watch closely to what the Democratic ticket has to say about gun control. For Vice President Kamala Harris and her vice presidential nominee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, implementing universal background checks on all firearm purchases and transfers is one of their top priorities should they win The White House in November.
However, universal background checks on firearm sales and transfers would require a national gun registry in order to work. That’s unlawful. It would also have no effect on criminals, who overwhelmingly obtain firearms through illicit means
Thankfully, a national firearm registry is prohibited due to the 1986 Gun Control Act and the Brady Act of 1993, which created the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) and made clear that NICS cannot be used to create a firearm registry.
Rep. Gabbard is rightly concerned that she might be a victim of political targeting. Government watchlists are ripe for abuse and mistakes. Despite these flaws, Sen. Chris Murphy pushed for these lists to be employed against Americans to deny them their Second Amendment rights. History shown that even the late Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, was mistakenly added to the list in 2004. It took him and his staff weeks to get his name removed.
Now imagine how long it would take a normal, law-abiding American to get removed from the list, all for simply exercising their Constitutional rights. Government agencies creating “lists” of Americans that can be used to target them for political differences is concerning. For gun owners, they’ve already seen how these can be abused.
This “no guns for you list” crap has been tried before, and fell flat on it’s democrat face. It will fail again.
What happens when someone escapes the democRat Party Plantation.
The fascist left has weaponized the entire .gov against the people.
We are way past time for Nuremberg 2.0.
jwm,
World History demonstrates without any sliver of doubt that large initiating groups of people decide that they despise one or more other disfavored groups of people. Once that happens, the initiating group starts with small offenses against their disfavored group and then steadily escalates to a crescendo of horrific offenses running the gambit of every horrible act that any human has ever forced upon another.
And the reaction of the disfavored groups always follow the same script. First the disfavored group discounts the possibility of abuse. Then the disfavored group shrugs off small initial offenses. Next, the disfavored group downplays the magnitude of the danger that they are facing at the hands of the initiating group. Next to last, the disfavored group looks in disbelief at the the first salvo of major offenses. Finally, the disfavored group scatters and suffers major losses while hoping that some other group will come to save them.
Wife abusers and their wives follow that EXACT same pattern, as do violent criminals and their victims. The only difference between a wife beater and a hateful group is scale. God help us all when (not if, but when) hateful groups rise to power in governments.
I admit I “questioned” Tulsi Gabbard’s sincerity after she supposedly switched allegiance after being called a Russian agent by the hildebeast🙄I DON’T NOW!!! No plans for jet travel but one never knows as I have grandkids 700 miles away & my older brother lives in Florida. Stay strapped POTG.
Like Trump, Tulsi isn’t my ideal choice for a leader. But, she does have her head screwed on right, so we take what we can get.
My own travel plans? I haven’t boarded a plane since the Homeland Absurdity Act was passed. Remember, “You can’t read the bill until you pass the bill!”
Sure, she talks a good story and is having a blast running around in her read my lips pants playing Ms John Wick . . . but she voted against my 2A rights every single chance she got while in congress. Talk is cheap, her actions had negative consequences for all of us.
Welcome to social credit in the US.
You miss the Facebook rollout? But yeah starting to use the pieces they have been putting into place over the last few decades.
Never had one.
Guaranteed you have a ghost profile but not having one active does marginally slow down the NSA with data collection on you.
“Thankfully, a national firearm registry is prohibited due to the 1986 Gun Control Act and the Brady Act of 1993, which created the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) and made clear that NICS cannot be used to create a firearm registry.”
Hmm. Let’s see. Many people on this forum have stated repeatedly that criminals do not obey laws. Many of our politician’s and government bureaucrats have demonstrated that they do not obey laws and are thus criminals. And yet we expect said criminals (politicians and government bureaucrats who have violated laws) to obey this particular law? How does that work exactly?
If you think our state and/or federal governments do NOT have a surprisingly accurate firearm registry, I have premium beachfront real estate at the South Pole to sell you.
Notes:
1) NICS gives fedzilla a very good registry of who owns firearms, although they may not know which calibers you own.
2) States which have mandatory registration know exactly what firearms you own, used to own, and/or at least some of the exact firearms that you own.
3) I will happily bet a year’s salary that fedzilla has open-ended wire-taps on most websites that sell ammunition, firearm components, and firearms. And they have little trouble connecting queries on those websites to specific human beings or at least specific domiciles.
4) I will happily bet 10 year’s salary that prominent search engines VOLUNTARILY hand-over ample data to fedzilla which divulges, with amazing accuracy, what calibers of firearms any specific home or even human being owns.
Unless you have been living in a cave your whole life, never used the Internet, never carried around a cell phone, and only purchased firearms (including firearm parts and ammunition) in private transactions using cash only, our state and/or federal governments have a very accurate database of which homes have firearms, which calibers they have, and in many cases at least some of the exact firearms that you have.
Finally, note that state and/or federal thugs don’t need to know exactly what firearm/s you own to justify busting down your doors in a raid–they only need to “know” that you have firearm/s in general if they have some additional factor to justify the raid. At best that raid will entail totally ransacking your home.
Plan accordingly.
As a leader at any level in the Democrat Party. You can not support 2A civil rights. And historical the Democrat Party has never ever supported 2A civil rights.
Except for white Democrats.
Democrats already have their lists of “extremists”. I’m on it because I’m a veteran. Again because I own guns. Again because I am Christian. I’m vocal about my opposition to LGBTQ “rights”, especially the latest trans nonsense. They’ve never said so, but I’m probably on a list because I’m a registered Independent. I’m not at all surprised that Tulsi is on their watch list.
Every citizen of the United States needs to take stock of his own situation, and think about how many lists he/she might be on. The D party is the enemy of the United States, and US citizens.
I’ll not only bet there are lists but a score against the list entries based on factors such as income, address, motor vehicle registration, education, party affiliation, religious beliefs, s_media posts, and much more.
Those above a certain score will be the first shock-and-awe victims.
I am inspired to quote Gene Wilder from YOUNG DOCTOR FRANKENSTEIN, “Nice Knockers!!!!”
“What happens when someone escapes the democRat Party Plantation.”
Too TRUE! I always thought that as more people learned “how to think” instead of “what to think,” there would be increasing numbers of people leaving the DemonCrap Party. Unfortunately, the DemonCrap thought-control is, apparently, extremely hard to overcome! That this many people (the entire DemonCrap Party), are logic-averse is a testimony to the effectiveness of mind-control, as practiced by the CCP and DemonCrap Party, as well as other communist entities since the late 19th century…
Democrats Want Harris to Keep Her Plans Vague Until After the Election > https://bearingarms.com/camedwards/2024/08/19/democrats-want-harris-to-keep-her-plans-vague-until-after-the-election-n1225970
Ideas so beloved and popular they have to hide them from you.
Google is Lying to US Citizens About Firearm Restrictions.
Congresswoman Brings Gun Through TSA Checkpoint & Gets Flak For Her Response!
So, how many TSA agents and Air Marshals will be needed when tens of millions of benign names are added to the “Quiet Skies” list? And when all violators are convicted, how many prison cells will be required? Not surprisingly, someone, somewhere, is not thinking.
Not applicable. I’m sure they plan to be quite selective about who they do the enforcing on.
When the prisons get overcrowded they will “reduce the population” by various means. Starvation, disease, and neglect are always good starters.
She committed the Cardinal sin when she turned on her betters then she discovered there was more popularity and better cash flow by continuing to bad mouth them. Have not been on a plane since the mid 70s, no plans (or desire) to do so at any time in the foreseeable future…
Gun Owners Could Be Next? No “could” about it, we will be. This and many other areas of our lives will be weaponized against us in an attempt to get us to comply with bans etc. in the future (and the not too distant future if Harris is elected).
leaving the Democrat party is like leaving Scientology.
In both groups anyone who leaves is considered an apostate, which is worse than being an unbeliever.