Rep. Hudson slams AG Cooper on terror watch list gun ban

ROCKINGHAM — Richmond County’s congressman on Wednesday sharply criticized Attorney General Roy Cooper in his bid to deny gun sales to individuals on a federal watch list.

U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson, R-Concord, said the move could infringe on American citizens’ Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms when they have not been convicted or even formally accused of a crime.

“I’m disappointed our chief law enforcement official is taking Nancy Pelosi’s lead and calling to suspend our constitutional right to due process,” Hudson said in a statement. “The fact is, everyday Americans could one day find themselves on the no-fly list just because they have a similar name as a suspected individual or because of a bureaucratic error.”

Hudson said Cooper’s proposal involved the federal no-fly list, but the plan Cooper rolled out this week referenced the terrorist watch list, which is an FBI-maintained database containing information about those known or suspected of being involved in terrorist activity.

Cooper spokeswoman Noelle Talley noted in a Monday release that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed a 2013 law prohibiting the sale of guns to people on the terrorist watch list.

“Stopping terror suspects from getting weapons that could harm our state and its people makes common sense,” Cooper said in a statement. “Even if Washington won’t act, we can.”

North Carolina’s four-term Democratic attorney general, Cooper has filed to run for governor in 2016, challenging Republican Gov. Pat McCrory. He will face former state legislator and transportation board member Ken Spaulding in next year’s Democratic primary, but is considered McCrory’s presumptive general election opponent.

Citing Government Accountability Office figures, Cooper said more than 2,000 terrorist suspects were legally allowed to purchase guns in the United States from 2010 to 2014

Hudson, R-Concord, who is running for his third term representing North Carolina’s 8th Congressional District, slammed Cooper for taking “a page from the Washington liberal playbook.”

“This irresponsible, knee-jerk reaction distracts from common-sense steps we’ve taken to protect Americans like strengthening security measures in both the visa waiver program and the refugee resettlement program,” he said in the Wednesday statement.

Civil liberties groups say government watch lists stigmatize tens of thousands of people, many of whom do not face criminal charges. Evidence used to place names on the list may be secret and those listed may lack the opportunity to question their accusers and clear their names, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

“A bloated, opaque watchlisting system is neither fair nor effective,” the ACLU says on its website. “A system in which innocent people languish on blacklists indefinitely, with their rights curtailed and their names sullied, is at odds with our Constitution and values.”