Shelby, Sessions tell Attorney General Loretta Lynch to focus on security, not anti-Muslim backlash
By Howard Koplowitz | hkoplowitz@al.com
Washington, D.C.
Alabama's U.S. senators wrote a letter Thursday to U.S. Attorney General Lynch expressing concern that her greatest fear from last week's San Bernardino, California, shooting was of anti-Muslim backlash and not the security of Americans.
"While we are wary of parsing phrases of public officials, this statement was widely reported enough to warrant outrage," wrote U.S. Sens. Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions, both Republicans. "We strongly disagree with your response to the unthinkable murder of innocent Americans. Our greatest fear after the heinous acts of Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik is that other Islamic terrorists will see an opportunity to enter our country and kill Americans – and that this administration is doing nothing to stop it."
The senators also criticized President Barack Obama for saying in his Oval Office address Sunday that Congress should restrict anyone on the no-fly list for buying a gun as part of a plan to stop terorrists from carrying out attacks in the U.S. Opponents of the president's proposal have pointed out that neither Farook nor Malik were on the no-fly list and argue that criminals, by definition, circumvent laws.
"For the President to then suggest that our response to these murders should be to limit our Second Amendment rights is both ridiculous and irrelevant to the shootings. Neither Mr. Farook nor Ms. Malik's actions would have been stopped by the policies that the President has suggested," Sessions and Shelby wrote. "Instead, we believe that President Obama is once again using a tragedy to push liberal gun control policies that would not even address the crime we witnessed – and make Americans less safe by restricting the lawful exercise of their Second Amendment rights."
Sessions and Shelby demanded that Lynch "put the safety and needs of our country first, and leave the politically correct efforts of interest groups to the advocacy and campaigns of those outside of our government."
"It is long past time that you and President Obama focus on the real threat facing our great nation: radical Islamic terrorism – not law-abiding Americans," the added.