The latest legislation, proposed by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and backed by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), is a compromised version of the “terrorism watch list” firearm ban bill proposed by Democratic Sen. Diane Feinstein (Calif.) earlier this week.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (C) (D-NY) speaks during a press conference held by Democratic senators calling for action on gun violence June 16, 2016 at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Sen. Chuck Schumer (C) (D-NY) speaks during a press conference held by Democratic senators calling for action on gun violence June 16, 2016 at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
The measure proposed by Collins utilizes the No-Fly list and the Selectee List as the basis for its restrictions. Though the list would offer a much narrower group of people than the broad list proposed by Feinstein, the ACLU still finds the proposal to be an “unfair watchlist system.”
“The ACLU strongly urges you to vote against the Collins Amendment because it uses the error-prone and unfair watchlist system, along with vague and overbroad terms, as a predicate for a proceeding to deny a firearms permit,” officials at the ACLU wrote in a letter to lawmakers.
The ACLU believes implementing the Collins amendment would serve to “further entrench a watchlist system that is rife with problems,” adding that the current watchlist is “unreliable because it uses vague and overbroad criteria and secret evidence to place individuals on blacklists without a meaningful process to correct government error and clear their names.”
The nonprofit organization also noted the fact that “nominations to the master watchlist need not be based on ‘concrete facts.’”
“It permits placement on the master watchlist based on uncorroborated or even questionably reliable information,” the ACLU added.
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