Parents of San Bernardino gunman Syed Farook placed on federal terrorist watch list
Parents of San Bernardino gunman Syed Farook placed on federal terrorist watch list — but are still free to buy guns: reports
BY NANCY DILLON, CAMERON JOSEPH, LEONARD GREENE
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, December 8, 2015, 10:36 PM
http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopo...a-shooting.jpgPATRICK T. FALLON/REUTERS
Just hours after the California shooting, Farook’s father, who is also named Syed Farook, insisted to the Daily News that he knew nothing of his son’s deadly plot.
They are suspected terrorists, the parents of a known terrorist — and the perfect candidates to buy a gun.
The mother and father of San Bernardino gunman Syed Farook have been placed on a federal terrorist watch list in the wake of a mass shooting that killed 14 people, according to reports.
But that ignominious status would not necessarily disqualify the parents from purchasing a pistol or a semiautomatic weapon.
Blame that scary reality on a loony loophole that survived yet another round of congressional inaction after lawmakers failed again Tuesday to move forward with legislation that would bar suspected terrorists on the no-fly list from being able to buy weapons.
http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopo...ok9n-9-web.jpgMSNBC
The gunman’s mother, Rafia Farook, said separately that she was also in the dark about her son's terror plan.
“It’s just another vivid example of why we need to stop people who are on the terror watch list from getting guns so easily,” said Rep. Steve Israel (D-L.I.). “I don’t know what more needs to be demonstrated to House Republicans who are more intent on protecting the NRA than their own constituents.
“The irony is you have the FBI trying to keep us safe by putting people on the terror watch list and those same people can legally go out and buy the kinds of firearms that were used in San Bernardino.”
Just hours after the California shooting, Farook’s father, who is also named Syed Farook, insisted to the Daily News that he knew nothing of his son’s deadly plot. “I have no clue about this,” Farook said, as the story was still unfolding. “He was very religious. He would go to work, come back, go to pray, come back. He’s Muslim.”
The gunman’s mother, Rafia Farook, said separately that she was also in the dark about the terror plan — and the weapons and pipe bombs stockpiled in the home she shared with her son and his killing partner wife.
But the denials weren’t enough to keep them off the list of people seen as a threat to American safety.
The father was watch-listed because of his multiple and frequent trips to his native Pakistan.
The mother was added to the list after authorities found suspicious items in a car registered to her, including shooting targets and empty GoPro helmet camera packaging, according to ABC News.
Questions were raised about whether the San Bernardino killers recorded their heinous actions.
Gun control advocates said the watch list’s new names underlined the absurdity of the terrorist loophole. “Just the fact that we’re allowing people in general who are on these lists (to buy guns) is crazy,” said Ladd Everitt, communications director of the Washington-based Coalition to Stop Gun Violence.
“It’s risk-taking,” Everitt said of the loophole. “It’s irresponsible. It’s reckless.”
Everitt said he was disappointed in Republican lawmakers who have blocked efforts to change the law.
“The Republican Party has just reached a new place,” Everitt said. “It’s not law and order anymore. It’s almost as if now they are embracing anarchy. You can see it in the mob mentality.”
The gun control advocate also took aim at the National Rifle Association, which has repeatedly thwarted efforts to pass a law banning terror suspects from buying guns.
“The NRA just doesn’t care,” Everitt said. “A gun sale is a gun sale to them.”
NRA spokeswoman Jennifer Baker referred questions to an organization publicist, who did not return requests for comment.
Senate Democrats made a doomed-from-the-start push to get unanimous consent to revisit the legislation, only to be blocked by Republicans for the second time in less than a week.
House Speaker Paul Ryan(R-Wis.) has voiced his staunch opposition to the effort and the four Republican senators running for president — Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz — all voted against the measure.
“The vote last week showed that the gun lobby unfortunately still has a staggering stranglehold on this process,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who asked for the motion, lamented.
Texas Sen. John Cornyn, a member of the GOP leadership, warned the bill would allow the government to deny “some of your core constitutional rights” without having to show proof that you’re a terrorist, and argued that too many innocents are on the no-fly list.
But Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called the GOP blockade “absolute insanity.”
“No matter who is on the terror watch list, one thing remains certain, they are a threat to this great nation and we should be doing everything in our power to prevent them from gaining legal access to weapons of war,” Schumer said.
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