WASHINGTON, D.C.- Today, Dr. Rand Paul voted to keep guns out of the hands of terrorists while still preserving the constitutional rights of all Americans. Paul voted for the Cornyn Amendment, which notifies the FBI if anyone on the terror watch list tries to buy a gun.
During the 72 hour waiting period, the FBI can arrest the suspect or present the suspect to a judge with probable cause to prevent the purchase of weapons.
When Dr. Paul discovered that the Orlando killer was not on any terror watch list he advocated to change the Cornyn Amendment to ensure that anyone investigated by the FBI would stay on the terror watch list for five years.
Dr. Paul’s advocacy for this change led to the modification of the Cornyn Amendment so that the new system could possibly stop an attacker such as the Orlando killer or the Boston bombers.
In a prepared statement, Dr. Paul explained his vote:
“By all means we should do everything possible to prevent terrorists from buying weapons, but we should never take away any American’s Second Amendment rights without due process. Innocent until proven guilty is the basis of our judicial system. We should not abridge any of our basic rights without due process in a court of law,” Dr. Paul said.
To prevent further massacres such as Orlando we must ask some pointed questions of the FBI.
“I recently asked the FBI Director, why was this investigation closed? The Orlando killer at least twice threatened violence against co-workers, he knew another suicide bomber, he travelled to Saudi Arabia, and five weeks before the massacre a gun store owner reported him to the FBI. The FBI dropped the ball here. To prevent more tragedies like this from recurring, we need to insist that the FBI does more thorough investigations,” stated Dr. Paul.
Dr. Rand Paul will continue to fight to keep America safe from terror, but he will also fight to protect our constitutional rights such as the Second Amendment and advocate for common sense solutions such as more complete FBI investigations.
###
