Last night in a Fox News round table after the President's speech, one of the participants had found themselves on the no-fly list for travel to and from a certain country as a reporter.
After the IRS abuses, it's not a reach to think the list could be abused. Someone with ties to groups with "freedom" or "patriot" or "tea party" could find themselves there, and not even know why.
Without due process, the whole idea is troubling.
The other problem is that "watch lists" may be constitutional strictly in terms of authorizing surveillance, assuming that there is sufficient probable cause to justify watching a person; but the bar should be much higher when it comes to actually depriving a person of any right or privilege.
This is also one of the three big problems with the President's and others' calls to prevent citizens on watch lists from buying guns. Being watched may be justified by suspicion alone, but suspicion alone is not sufficient cause to deprive a person of their rights.
The other two problems are:
Firstly, that preventing possible terrorists or sympathizers from buying guns forces the government to tip its hand by providing a simple way for these people to find out whether they're being watched. All they have to do is attempt to purchase a cheap varmint rifle, preferably one chambered for the .223 Remington cartridge (which can also be fired in M-16 / AR-15 rifles chambered for the 5.56×45mm NATO cartridge).
If the person is able to buy the rifle, they would know they're not on a watch list. They could then obtain a hunting license and buy hunting-related paraphernalia, thus creating a plausible reason for purchasing ammunition, which they could then stockpile.
If the person is unable to buy the rifle, however, they would know that their cover had been blown, and whatever intelligence might otherwise have been gained from surveilling them would be lost.
Secondly, the fact that a person of interest is allowed to purchase a firearm is presently reported to ATF and DHS, who presumably intensify their surveillance accordingly. This could lead to additional intelligence with regard to associates, plans, and so forth that would be lost if the individuals had been turned away.
Rich