2A Justified: FBI Director Warns of U.S. Terror Attack Potential

No doubt unintentionally, FBI Director Christopher Wray on Tuesday provided the greatest justification for the Second Amendment when he testified before the Senate Homeland Security Committee that “the ongoing war in the Middle East has raised the threat of an attack against Americans in the United States to a whole other level.”

According to Fox News, Wray told the committee, “We also cannot and do not discount the possibility that Hamas or another foreign terrorist organization may exploit the current conflict to conduct attacks here on our own soil.”

At a time the Biden administration is pushing its gun control agenda in reaction to the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine—including a call for banning so-called “assault weapons” and original capacity magazines—Wray’s testimony provided clear arguments supporting the right of individual citizens to keep and bear arms for self-defense.

Quoted by NPR, Wray told the committee, “We are not currently tracking an imminent, credible threat from a foreign terrorist organization, a structured attack here or something like that, but it is something that we think heightened vigilance is warranted for.

“It is a time to be concerned,” he stated. “We are in a dangerous period.”

Wray’s remarks are available at C-SPAN.

Since the outbreak of hostilities in the Middle East, much attention has been paid to the porous border situation under the Biden administration. Many people argue that the situation on the southern border has lent itself to illegal entry into the U.S. by terror suspects, who could literally be anywhere in the country.

The Hill also quoted Wray’s testimony before the Senate panel, during which he acknowledged, “We’re keeping a close eye on what impact recent events may have on those groups’ intentions here in the United States, and how those intentions might evolve.”

Currently, more than half of the states allow private citizens to be armed in public without a carry permit or license, and all other states have permit/licensing laws. Millions of Americans are legally armed and licensed to carry, so there is a potential that a “lone wolf” terror attack could result in a dramatic reaction by armed citizens, depending upon the location and circumstances. An update on concealed carry statistics is due shortly from the Crime Prevention Research Center.

“We assess that the actions of Hamas and its allies will serve as an inspiration, the likes of which we haven’t seen since ISIS launched its so-called caliphate several years ago,” Wray told the committee. “In just the past few weeks, multiple foreign terrorist organizations have called for attacks against Americans and the West.”

According to the Fox News report, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security released a statement noting, “As the Israel-Hamas conflict continues, we have seen an increase in reports of threats against Jewish, Muslim, and Arab communities and institutions. Lone offenders, motivated by a range of violent ideologies, pose the most likely threat. We urge the public to stay vigilant and to promptly report suspicious activity to local law enforcement.”

There is no small irony in Wray’s testimony. Biden and other Democrats wasted no time in exploiting the deadly shooting in Maine several days ago, proposing additional restrictions on Second Amendment rights, yet the threat of terrorist attacks on U.S. soil underscore arguments by those in the firearms community that the right to keep and bear arms is just as important now as it was more than 230 years ago when it became the second tenet in the Bill of Rights.

The president has devoted his half-century in government to the gun control effort.

Current estimates suggest that as many as 100 million American citizens own between 300 and 400 million firearms, including somewhere in the neighborhood of 24-25 million modern semi-auto rifles, routinely mis-identified as “assault weapons.”

“Here in the United States,” Wray said, “our most immediate concern is that violent extremists — individuals or small groups — will draw inspiration from the events in the Middle East to carry out attacks against Americans going about their daily lives. That includes not just homegrown violent extremists inspired by a foreign terrorist organization, but also domestic violent extremists targeting Jewish or Muslim communities.”

Against this backdrop, the gun prohibition movement has not wavered in its efforts to push a gun control agenda, calling for licensing and registration, so-called “universal” background checks, waiting periods, limits on the number of firearms someone can purchase in a month or year, permits to purchase, and a plethora of other restrictions which criminals, and certainly terrorists, routinely ignore.

About Dave Workman

Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms, and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.