Pirate's Cove

Trevor Noah, who replaced Jon Stewart on the Daily Show, and immediately saw the ratings tank, is still a big favorite of far left progressives, especially those at sites like Salon, Slate, and Vox

Watch Trevor Noah explain why the terrorist list gun ban is actually pretty scary

The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah thinks that banning suspected terrorists from buying guns may not be that good of an idea, even if it sounds like it is.

In the wake of the recent Orlando massacre, Sen. Chris Murphy and other Democratic lawmakers filibustered for 15 hours in order to force a vote on a new gun bill. If passed, the bill would give the government broad authority to block the sale of guns to individuals investigated for terrorist activity up to five years before the attempted purchase. The bill is widely backed by Senate Democrats, and the terrorist list ban haspreviously garnered support from President Obama.

But perhaps it isn’t so cut and dried, Noah points out.

Last night, in a segment about the Senate filibuster, he explained why the idea is actually pretty troubling. “It sounds like something that shouldn’t be up for discussion,” he said. “But it’s not as formal as it sounds. It’s a secret list that anyone could be put on at any time.”

Therein lies a big problem. And Democrats/Liberals/Progressives should really say to themselves “could I end up on a government list with virtually no way to get off, violating my Constitutional rights? What if I find myself in a situation where, despite my loathing of guns, I find that I need one, say, because someone is violently threatening me, and now I cannot purchase one? What if it is simply that I get on a list and cannot fly? Who will protect me?”

Noah acknowledged that though the legislation might seem comforting now, we might want to think twice before consenting to such a large expansion of governmental discretionary power. His fears may be well-grounded. According to watch list guidelines published in the Intercept in 2014, adding a person’s name to the list requires neither “concrete facts” nor “irrefutable evidence.”

The ACLU has long been against things like the No Fly List, finding them a violation of our Rights, and has even filed lawsuits against them. And they do not think they should be used without serious and massive overhauls

There’s another important aspect to the government’s case at this stage. The government has emphasized that it is making predictive judgments that people like our clients — who have never been charged let alone convicted of a crime — might nevertheless pose a threat. That’s a perilous thing for it to do. As we’ve told the court based on evidence from experts, these kinds of predictions guarantee a high risk of error. If the government is going to predict that Americans pose a threat and blacklist them, that’s even more reason for the fundamental safeguards we seek.

We disagree with Speaker Ryan about many things. But he’s right that people in this country have due process rights. We want to see them respected.

And we disagree with the ACLU on many things, but they are right: using lists like the No Fly List are dangerous.

Video of Trevor Noah is available at the top link.