It isn't every day the Gun Owners of America, the Second Amendment Foundation, the American Conservative Union, and the ACLU find themselves on the same side, but it has happened this month, with the formation of an advocacy group called Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances. Bob Barr, the former Republican Congressman from Georgia, is the chairman of the organization, whose mission is to:
"... to fix the Patriot Act to enable the government to fight terror
while preserving important checks and balances on law enforcement,
thus limiting undue government intrusion into the private lives of
average Americans."
There's an aim I can endorse. The lack of hearings and open national discussion on the Patriot Act has seriously hampered any effort to take a hastily enacted and flawed law and enhance the positive (such as necessary information exchange between various law enforcement entities) and delete the negative (such as a lack of judicial review and overly broad categorizations of persons or entities subject to some of the new procedures). The House hearings initiated by Representative Zoe Lofgren have not yet taken place, but the formation of this group highlights the need for national debate on the Patriot Act.
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