Mitch McConnell wants to protect your Second Amendment rights, to hell with the Fourth

The very same day Mitch McConnell was using the excuse of Second Amendment rights for his vote to allow people on the terrorist watch list to buy a gun, he brought an amendment to the floor that would gut Americans' Fourth Amendment protections. 

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell set up a vote late on Monday to expand the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s authority to use a secretive surveillance order without a warrant to include email metadata and some browsing history information. […]

The amendment would broaden the FBI’s authority to use so-called National Security Letters to include electronic communications transaction records such as time stamps of emails and the emails' senders and recipients.

It would do a hell of a lot more than that—it would allow the FBI to bypass the courts in getting your metadata. Democratic Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden points that out while blasting the Republicans for "pushing fake, knee-jerk solutions that will do nothing to prevent mass shootings or terrorist attacks."

Like so many other proposals this amendment is a lose-lose. It won't make our country safer, but it will take away crucial checks and balances that protect our freedom. […]"

If this proposal passes, FBI agents will be able to demand the records of what websites you look at online, who you email and chat with, and your text message logs, with no judicial oversight whatsoever. The reality is the FBI already has the power to demand these electronic records with a court order under the Patriot Act. In emergencies the FBI can even obtain the records right way and go to a judge after the fact. This isn't about giving law-enforcement new tools, it's about the FBI not wanting to do paperwork."