Jean Peters Baker. File photo.
The Jackson County Prosecutor is joining her counterparts across the country urging Congress to make it harder for potential terrorists to buy firearms.
Jean Peters Baker is asking lawmakers to support the Denying Firearms and Explosives To Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2015, a bipartisan bill that would prohibit those on the terror watch list from purchasing firearms or explosives, her office said.
Domestic abusers and fugitives from justice are barred from buying firearms or explosives. Supporters of the bill want to close a loophole and extend the ban to those on the watchlist.
“Currently federal law prohibits known or suspected terrorists from boarding a plane, but shockingly those same terrorists are allowed to legally purchase as many weapons and explosives as they want,” Baker said in a statement. “By passing this bill, Congress could help protect citizens in Jackson County and across the country from attacks like the tragedies that have recently occurred in Paris. I cannot imagine who could be opposed to this simple common-sense fix.”
The bill was sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Rep. Peter King (R-NY) following the recent attacks in Paris. Prosecutors Against Gun Violence, a national nonpartisan coalition of prosecutors, is urging support for the measure.
Who’s talking