Alan Bersin, Assistant Homeland Security Secretary of International Affairs, appeared to wander off script during testimony Thursday when he said he didn’t “believe it would be appropriate” to use the no-fly list to restrict the Second Amendment rights of Americans.
If you don’t believe it, just watch the face of the unidentified aide seated behind him.
“There’s been a lot of talk recently about using these watch lists for purposes other than they were intended. For instance, determining whether or not Americans are able to exercise their rights under the Second Amendment,” Rep. Blake Harenthold said to Bersin.
“Do you think it’s appropriate that these lists be used outside of what they were designed for?”
“I’ve not heard that,” Bersin replied. “I don’t believe that it would be, uh, I believe it would be, uh, apples and oranges,” he said as the staffer on the far left of the screen first gets a puzzled, then slightly horrified look on her face.
In response to the terrorist attack in San Bernardino in which two Islamists killed 14 and wounded 21, the Obama administration has been promoting a bill to bar Americans listed on the “no fly”
list from purchasing a gun.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest conceded last week that none of the recent attacks would have been stopped had the ban been in place.
“Were any of the recent mass shooters on the ‘no-fly’ list?” Earnest was asked by the Wall Street Journal’s Byron Tau.
“Not that I’m aware of,” Earnest admitted. “You’ll probably have to ask the director of national intelligence to confirm that.”
It seems Bersin slipped up and accidentally told the truth.
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