Will Bitner

Mr. Davis
Government
October 25, 2015
Revision of the Freedom Act of 2015
Indiana Governor Mike Pence once said The Patriot Act is essential to our continued
success in the war on terror here at home. On September 11, 2001, the largest terrorist attack on
United States soil occurred. Four Boeing 767s were hijacked by Islamic extremists who were
part of the terrorist group known as Al Qaeda. Two of the planes crashed into the World Trade
Center, another was flown into the Pentagon and the final plane was smashed into a grass field in
Pennsylvania. The United States and its people were devastated by this act of terrorism in which
nearly 3,000 people were killed. In response to the attack, President George Bush signed into law
a bill known as the USA Patriot Act. The bill was passed in a time of crisis after the United States
had taken a major hit and were looking to prevent this from ever happening again; This bill was
signed into law with little debate on October 26, 2001, only 45 days after the attacks that rocked
our country... Yet, the bill was 342 pages long, and many members of Congress now say they did
not even read it before voting in favor (Appstate.edu). Today, the Patriot Act is used to provide
sufficient tools to intercept and obstruct not only global terrorism but domestic terrorism as well.
By passing the revision of the Patriot Act of 2015, the citizens of the United States will be
assured that necessary funds due to an expired Act will be thwarted, violations of Sneak-andPeek warrants will be dramatically reduced and that those with mental illness will be monitored
more thoroughly when wanting to purchase firearms which will help the occurrence of many
domestic terrorist attacks.

In order for a bill to be passed and become a law it has to pass through several steps. First, the
bill has to be introduced by a Congress member. Then, the bill is assigned a committee where
they will go through a review process of the bill. They will make any changes to the bill that they
see is necessary. The bill is then sent to the House floor where it is debated and amended if
needed. The bill voted on and if enough members vote yes on the bill then it is passed on to the
Senate. The Senate goes through a similar review and voting process. If the bill passes through
the Senate and Congress the bill is sent to the President and it can then be approved, vetoed, or
overridden. This process can take a very long time causing taxpayers millions of dollars. The
average time it takes for a bill to pass is 263 days and the average cost is approximately 67
million dollars per bill paid by taxpayers (congress.gov). This is why the revision to the Freedom
Act of 2015 removes the Sunset Clause because without the need to reinstate the Patriot Act
every four years the United States will be able to save millions of dollars and government time.
The money saved from this could be put into government funded programs that are lacking fiscal
funds. The Patriot Act is not perfect but the revisions to the Patriot Act could become a very
useful tool for stopping terrorism.
The original purpose of Patriot Act was meant to be used to fight terrorism by the United States
Federal Government. Due to its quick creation, there was a lot of room for interpretation as to
what the Act was designed to do and there have been some people within law enforcement that
have abused the purpose and power of the Patriot Act. A director of the FBI admitted to abusing
it in a report, Robert Mueller, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said he was to be
held accountable for the abuses, which involved the improper use of so-called national security
letters, which allowed the FBI to obtain personal information, including telephone, banking, and
e-mail records(Krichgaessner). The abuse of these powers by law enforcement are prevalent

and need to be stopped. There needs to be set guidelines as to what the Patriot Act is and what it
can be used for. Also, the use of the Patriot Act needs to lie solely with the Federal Government
but be delegated out to local and state officers for a set amount of time if necessary to ensure the
safety of the American people. The freedom of Americans is key to the success of the United
States and with the use of the Patriot Act being unchecked, it has been infringing upon some of
those freedoms. The use of Sneak-and-Peek searches by local police have been used in order to
get a warrant and enter a residence without the owner ever knowing that someone had been
which is a clear example of an abuse in power. They have been using the Patriot Act as a means
to get the warrants for common criminals when its original intent was to be used in exceptional
circumstances. In a report by Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) the ...sneak-and-peek is
increasingly ubiquitous while the justification for granting the government this power in the first
placeterrorismis not only irrelevant to the tactics increasing pervasiveness, it gets more
irrelevant every year" (Belko). Belko goes on to report that Out of more than 11,000 requests
for those delayed-notification searches in 2013, a grand total of 51 were used for terrorism cases,
EFF found. Almost all of the other Sneak and Peek warrants went to drug investigations. Most
of these investigations were made by local police who believed that their cases fell under the
jurisdiction of the Patriot Act. The lack of clarity within the Act has allowed for it to be
interpreted by local agencies in a way that has infringed upon the rights of the American people.
By limiting the abilities of local law enforcement through the revision of the Patriot Act, the
Federal Government will be able to better protect the rights of the everyday people in America in
regards to not only global terrorism but domestic terrorism as well.
The Patriot Act defines domestic terrorism as activities within the United States that . . . involve
acts dangerous to human life that appear to be intended-- (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian

population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or

(iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or
kidnapping (Patriot Act). Under that definition, mass shootings can be defined as a domestic
terrorist attack and the majority of those in the United States have been committed by someone
who has a mental illness.
Certain attacks could be prevented if an early sign of terrorist threat had been detected. The
Columbine High School Massacre was the first largely publicized mass school shooting in the
United States. Twelve students and one teacher were the victims of Eric Harris and Dylan
Klebold. Harris and Klebold were deeply disturbed kids who kept a journal that had plans of the
school shooting in it. Harris also had a website that he maintained and on it were many alarming
signs. He talked about killings as many people as he could and how he would make pipe bombs
to turn his city into ground zero (Block). If the revised Patriot Act had been in effect and Erics
website had been tracked then the government could have stepped in, possibly preventing the
school shooting. In another incident at Virginia Tech University, another mentally ill student,
Seung-Hui Cho, killed 32 students. In middle school, he had been diagnosed with a severe case
of anxiety and a major case of depression and yet, he was still sold a gun (ncss1.org). One of the
results of this shooting is a new addition to background checks;
The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Improvement Act (HR 297)
now seems destined to pass Congress this year. It would provide grants to states to help them
provide a variety of data to the FBI's NICS on whether a person has been convicted of a
misdemeanor crime of domestic violence or has been the subject of court orders, mental health
adjudications, or commitments (Luo).

This addition to background checks will help ensure that people with mental illnesses will not be
able to get their hands on a firearm. This could dramatically reduce the rate of shootings and
make the nation a safer place. The National Rifle Association who is a strong supporter of gun
rights has now been in support of a bill created by Senator John Cornyn; What Senator
Cornyns bill would do is expand whats currently done in a number of states, whereby family
members or outside parties could petition a court to provide voluntary treatment for an individual
rather than go as far as to have an involuntary commitment. (Sreenivasan). This bill will help
prevent shootings by the mentally ill. Combined with the revision to the Patriot Act, this will
help prevent mentally ill Americans from accessing firearms by being able to pull up medical
records if there is reasonable suspicion to do so. The Patriot Act power can be used to better the
Nation to make it a safer and more perfect union.
Some say that the Patriot Act is unconstitutional and that it gives the government too much
power. These two controversies continue to be in the front of many Americans minds as they try
and determine whether or not their freedoms are being taken away by this law. In the wake of
September 11th, the Patriot Act seemed necessary in order to provide protection against those
who were coming after the United States. Over time, however, sections of the Patriot Act have
been deemed unconstitutional by citing the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution;
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against
unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon
probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be
searched, and the persons or things to be seized. The argument of unconstitutionality of the
Patriot Act, in regards to the Fourth Amendment, can been seen as it may appear to guarantee the
right to privacy for the American people. The powers given by the Act in respect to surveillance

may seem to threaten the rights defined by the Fourth Amendment. The Constitutional Rights
Foundation states, however, there were always exceptions to the rule;
Surveillance such as wiretaps and physical searches requires officers to prove probable cause
of criminality. Even before the Patriot Act, there were exceptions under federal law. One was for
so-called "pen-trap" orders. To obtain from a telephone company the numbers dialed to and from
a particular telephone, officers must get a pen-trap order from a judge. They do not need to show
probable cause, but must certify that the information needed for an ongoing criminal
investigation.
This demonstrates that even without the Patriot Act itself the ability to gain access to telephone
records was not protected under the Constitution. Furthermore, the Fourth Amendment does not
protect the right to privacy explicitly. With the Revision to the Freedom Act of 2015 bill, there
will be limits as to who has the ability to obtain warrants when using the Patriot Act as a cause
for Sneak and Peek warrants. With the penalties that can be incurred for anyone who violates
the revised Act, it will be less likely that the privacy of every day Americans will be infringed
upon. There are also others who believe that the government has overstepped their boundaries
and have too much power with the passing of the Act. Eric Lichtblau, a journalist for the New
York Times, states The government is using its expanded authority under the far-reaching law to
investigate suspected drug traffickers, white-collar criminals, blackmailers, child pornographers,
money launderers, spies and corrupt foreign leaders, federal officials said. Lichtblau is right in
stating that the Patriot Act is used for more than just terrorism, but the law is not overstepping its
boundaries. The Act was signed the in the wake of a horrific terrorist attack, but the definition of
domestic terrorism as defined within the Act clearly states that the government is within their
right to use the Act against those who threaten the wellbeing of any citizen within the United

States. The United States government has a responsibility to protect its citizens. With the
revision, the Act will continue to aid in the providing a safer country that can eliminate mass
shootings, child pornography and drug trafficking.
The Patriot Act is a powerful and useful tool that if checked and amended can be used for
its intended use to stop terrorism. To avoid unnecessary spending, the sunset clause that is in the
bill should be removed. It does however need a power balance and limiting who can and cannot
use it. Also, it should be able to reach into certain personal files to look for patterns of terroristic
threats. These are the amendments that should be implemented into the bill to create a safer
America for all of America.

Works Cited
Appalachian State. "Department of Government and Justice Studies." The USA Patriot
Act. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.
Balko, Radly. "Surprise! Controversial Patriot Act Power Now Overwhelmingly Used in
Drug Investigations." Washington Post, 30 Oct. 2014. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.

Block, Jerald. Lessons From Columbine: Virtual and Real Rage American Journal of
Forensic Psychiatry. July 2007.
Constitutional Rights Foundation. "The Patriot Act." Constitutional Rights Foundation.
N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.
Kirchgaessner, Stephanie. "FBI Admits Abuse of Patriot Act." N.p., 7 May 2007. Web. 20
Oct. 2015.
Lichtblau, Eric. "Patriot Act Article." Concerned Citizens Against the Patriot Act. New
York Times, n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.
Luo, Michael. "U.S. Rules Made Killer Ineligible to Purchase Gun". The New York
Times. 17 April 2009. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.
Sensenbrenner, James. "H.R.3162." www.Congress.Gov. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.
"The Warning Signs that Could Have Prevented the Virginia Tech Shootings."School
Violence: Weapons, Crime & Bullying. www.nscc1.org. 14 Oct 2013. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.