This is in a blog in our local paper.


Risch Calls for 'Third Way,' Leery on More Gun Restrictions in Wake of Orlando Shooting
NATHAN BROWN [email protected] 4 hrs ago 0
Nathan Brown
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Nathan Brown
U.S. Sen. Jim Risch says the Orlando shooting should lead us to take “a third way” in dealing with such attacks, rather than either the gun restrictions presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has been calling for or the ban on Muslim immigration preferred by presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.

Risch, R-Idaho, who is on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Monday that we should look “in a very granular fashion” at how the FBI handled the case, and other cases where people who went on to commit terrorist acts were investigated but cleared, and how each could have been handled better. The Orlando shooter, Omar Mateen, had come up twice in FBI probes before over suspected radical sympathies but the investigations fizzled out when agents concluded there was no basis for arrest or further monitoring.

Risch told Blitzer that he would he oppose banning people on terrorist watch lists from buying guns, which Democrats have been calling for, unless there is a process put in place where a person can defend themselves.

“If they’re simply on a list, that’ll never ever pass constitutional muster,” he said.

Risch said that taking away someone’s right to buy a gun is different than putting them on the “no fly list,” because the right to buy a gun, unlike the ability to board an airplane, is guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution.

Risch said Mateen seems to have acted out of multiple motives, and that his actions could have been a homophobic hate crime, inspired by his sympathies for radical Islamic terrorists and also a symptom of his apparent mental instability — Mateen’s ex-wife has said he was unstable and beat and abused her, and others who knew him have also described him as short-tempered with a violent streak — all simultaneously.

“Which one was the one that was the greatest motive, I don’t think anyone will ever know,” he said.

Risch disagreed with Blitzer’s contention that there is a “disturbing pattern” of people being investigated for potential terrorist ties who go on to commit terrorist acts after the cases are closed. In America, Risch said, you need evidence and an overt action to arrest someone, not just thoughts.

“Simply thoughts, simply sympathies, as abhorrent as it is with radical Islamic terrorism, is not enough,” he said.

If we are to remain a free nation, we have to adheer to the constitution, as inconvenient as it may be.

This guy gets it.

Let me see if I get this. Since I hear often that we are at war maybe we should act like it. During WW2 if some Nazis got here would we coddle them and give them more breaks than we give regular supporting Americans?

War precludes some Constitutional freedom, historically.

A bunch of American citizens of Japanese ancestry sure had their rights ripped from them in WWII.

There we go again, letting that darned constitution get in the liberal way.

If I read the articles on the Orlando shooter right then he has had a problem since high school. Even had to change schools for cheering the 9-11 attack. Then co-workers and friends said he was always sprouting off about how corrupt America is. We should be asking the FBI how they decided there was no problem with the guy? We should also be asking how he got into homeland security as a guard for government works. In other words how did he clear the back ground checks? Or was it because he is muslin he was given the clearance by our own government?

It could be. Due process can only occur if it is initiated. Political correctness WILL continue to allow people like this guy to slip through the cracks.

The FBI had about as much warning as they're ever likely to get a they still blew it.

It seems as though some type of restraining order could be placed upon someone under investigation for tied to ISIS?

A lot of it can be blamed on the PC/diversity garbage where you see people shy away from going forward with anything out of fear they will receive blowback for appearing to be a bigot. Looks like his employers were aware of some of his issues but left him alone. Disciplining a minority or female employee can be qa pain.

Islam is a mental illness. This dude was mentally ill, not just "unstable".

And apparently gay as well. I guess the left can't call it a hate crime if the shooter was gay, can they?

He also shared something with virtually every shooter. This is a common thread, and should be investigated. He was a Democrat. I am not kidding! The people that do these shootings are overwhelmingly Democrats. There are a few exceptions, as there will always be, but them's the facts.

True, but war historically has required fighting and ending it with a decisive victory which we've precluded doing in recent years.