Last week, al-Qaeda spokesman Adam Gadahn urged sympathizers in the U.S. to pick up a gun at a gun show and go nuts:
America is absolutely awash with easily obtainable firearms. You can go down to a gun show at the local convention center and come away with a fully automatic assault rifle, without a background check, and most likely without having to show an identification card. So what are you waiting for?
Steve Benen argues it's time to close the "gun show loophole" that allows people to purchase firearms without background checks. Unlike using the flawed terror "watch list," to bar people from buying guns on mere suspicion of ties to terrorism, I don't think background checks for gun purchases, which restrict access to firearms based on prior behavior, are at all unreasonable. At the same time, I'm not entirely sure that it'll ultimately do much good -- the U.S. has so many firearms that a really committed terrorist is going to be able to get their hands on one regardless.
Still, Gadahn's message strikes me as more desperate than terrifying -- al-Qaeda's capacity to level an attack on the United States has been so diminished that they're reduced to begging freelancers over the Internet. They've had few takers, despite the widespread availability of guns. There just aren't that many people who want to throw away their lives by becoming a terrorist.
