Fifth District Republican nominee Tom Garrett is taking issue with legislation in Congress that would bar people on the terror watch list from being able to buy guns.
“This policy would not have prevented the attack in Orlando as the shooter had already been removed from the FBI’s watch list,” said Garrett, a Virginia state senator.
Garrett will face Democratic nominee Jane Dittmar, a former member of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors, in the November election.
Incumbent Robert Hurt, a Republican, is not seeking re-election.
Garrett also took great issue with using the TSA’s no fly list as a rule to deprive citizens of their constitutional rights.
“At one point, Senator Ted Kennedy was on the no fly list, so we know it is incredibly flawed,” Garrett said. “Even if the TSA No Fly List wasn’t routinely incorrect, the fact that Jane Dittmar and President Obama advocate for your government deciding your guilt and subsequent suspension of rights without a trial or due process is an unmitigated outrage. It’s disturbing to see leaders sworn to uphold the Constitution relegate the Bill of Rights to the shredder.”
Garrett noted that the ACLU has led the charge against the “no-fly” list for years even going so far as to say that it targets minority groups “disproportionately in the extreme.” Travel expert Gary Leff warned of the dangers of the “no-fly” list, saying, “fundamentally the list is pre-crime filing … people get on the list by mistake or because they visited the wrong country in the wrong year.”
“It is shameful to see the Dittmar-Obama gun control agenda being promoted under the guise of national security by preying on people’s fears and politicizing the tragedy in Orlando,” Garrett said. “We have to understand that these policies go well beyond an attack on the Second Amendment … they would deprive American citizens of the Constitutional right to due process under the law.”
Garrett went on to say that “the hypocrisy of Congressional Democrats and Jane Dittmar is on full display as they slam Republicans for moving to halt immigration from war-torn Muslim countries in one breath, only to prevent American born Muslims from exercising their Constitutional rights in the next. What we should be doing is strictly enforcing the immigration and counter-terrorism laws and initiatives already on the books and immediately cease discussion of restricting or violating the rights of millions of law abiding citizens.”
Garrett has won the endorsements of major law enforcement and pro-gun advocacy groups such as the National Rifle Association and the Southern States Police Benevolent Association.
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Chris Graham
