Concerning the terrible tragedy in Aurora, Colorado, a Facebook friend of mine opened up the topic of gun control. A conservative friend of hers took issue.
My friend was sharing a post from the group Teabonics on Facebook. The post started with this:
Yes, you do have a legal right to bear arms. But James Holmes had in his possession an AR-15, a Remington 12-guage shotgun and a .40 caliber Glock with another Glock in sitting in his car. Constitutional rights aside, can I ask you why you think any one person would need to have this kind of arsenal? Why? And don't give me any "Guns don't kill people" bullshit.
One of the first people to chime in was the conservative and here is what he wrote:
Yeah, I'll chime in. It[s] my RIGHT. There exists a process to change the Constitution. We are a nation of laws. We are a republic. Facebook posts have no legal standing. If you want to make change, there is an avenue available to you. However for every person that wants to change the Constitution, there are dozens who don't. Living within our system and our laws has its flaws, some of them tragic. Justice will prevail. Outlaw the guns and you will just have the suicide bomber vests to deal with. Outlaw those and it will be the next [form] of terrorism.
It was the suicide vests comment that got to me.
I immediately recalled an item from a few years ago about how a terrorist attack was stopped by tracking its purchase online. The product was the very commonly available, over-the-counter product hydrogen peroxide. The target was New York City. My mind immediate cross-indexed this with the reports on television about how the shooter in Aurora, James Holmes, was able to purchase over 6,000 rounds of ammunition online, including 100 round drum magazines.
Authorities in the Colorado movie theater massacre found an AR-15 rifle drum magazine Friday capable of carrying 100 rounds, and the police chief said thousands of rounds of ammunition for various weapons had been bought online in the weeks prior to the shooting.
Police chief: Suspect bought over 6,000 rounds of ammunition through Internet
CNN Wire report July 21, 2012
My response to my friend's Facebook friend was this:
I understand that the 2nd Amendment is a right not a priviledge. However, voting is also a right and many, many conservatives are trying to regulate the hell out of that. You can buy a gun anywhere in your state, in some places without a background check, but you can't vote just anywhere. There are only two places you can vote: in your precinct or by absentee. Here in Minnesota, they are trying to restrict that right, even for those who serve in the military.
As for the comment about suicide bombers, most types of products that can be used to make a bomb are regulated and tracked (even acetate for hair styling).
No one was tracking the 100 round canister that was used during this shooting. That should have been the first clue.
I was wrong about the acetate. It was actually acetone. But I digress...
I did additional research today and found some very fascinating (and sad) things about the peroxide plot, called the Beauty Parlor Bomb plot by ABC News. The plot was hatched by a man named Najibullah Zazi. His intent was to detonate the bombs in the subways of New York City.
Zazi planned to use chemicals and hair care products he bought at beauty parlor supply stores to build a series of devastating bombs, according to a federal indictment made public today.
According to court documents, Zazi "purchased unusually large quantities of hydrogen peroxide and acetone from beauty supply stores in the Denver metropolitan area."
ABC News - "The Blotter" Sept. 24, 2009
It was put together in, of all places, Aurora, Colorado
ABC News has identified the hotel where accused al Qaeda bomb maker Najibullah Zazi apparently experimented with store-bought chemicals and a bomb-making recipe as the Homestead Studio Suites Hotel in Aurora, Colo.
He was caught, however, before he could do any damage. How, you might ask?
Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Robert Mueller appeared to indicate for the first time Wednesday that his agency uses a provision of the PATRIOT Act to obtain information about purchases of hydrogren peroxide--a common household chemical hair bleach and antiseptic that can also be turned into an explosive.
The comment in passing by Mueller during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing was noteworthy because critics have suggested that the FBI is using a provision in the PATRIOT Act to conduct broad surveillance of sales of lawful products such as hydrogen peroxide and acetone.
"It’s been used over 380 times since 2001," Mueller said of the so-called business records provision, also known as Section 215. "It provides us the ability to get records other than telephone toll records, which we can get through another provision of the statutes. It allows us to get records such as Fedex or UPS records....or records relating to the purchase of hydrogen peroxide, or license records—records that we would get automatically with a grand jury subpoena on the criminal side, the [Section] 215 process allows us to get on the national security side." (Emphasis added.)
Lawmakers have occasionally mentioned the possibility that PATRIOT could be used to track purchases of hydrogen peroxide, but Mueller's comment appears to be the first such public, specific suggestion by an executive branch official.
Under the Radar - Politico.com, Josh Gerstein, February 17, 2011
So, if you make large purchases of beauty care products you will get a visit from the FBI, but if you buy over 6,000 rounds of bullets (some contained in 100-round drum magazines) online within a relatively short period of time the FBI is deemed too busy?
Do I really need to point out what is wrong with that statement?