Shop 'Til You Drop For Terror Ammo

Twelve years ago yesterday, Timothy McVeigh used ammonium nitrate -- simple fertilizer -- to blow up the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, and kill 168 people in the process.

But despite all those deaths, and that time gone by, Congress still can't get its act together to come up with a way to screen folks who want to buy this terrorist munition of choice, ABC News reports.

Partisan differences have stalled a congressional effort to secure sales of ammonium nitrate, after Republicans proposed that potential buyers of the commercial fertilizer have their names checked against the terrorist watch list...

The House Homeland Security Committee had convened Tuesday to discuss a bill meant to tighten security around ammonium nitrate sales.
Republican Dan Lundgren, Calif., introduced the amendment that would require potential buyers be screened against the terrorist watch list.

Democrats immediately objected to the proposal, saying that requiring farmers to undergo the kind of name screening used for airline passengers would place an undue burden on those whose names might match those on the watch list....

Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., told ABC News that
Democrats supported the idea if innocent farmers whose names falsely match those on the watch list can get their names cleared quickly. One proposal, backed by the farm lobby, would require the Department of
Homeland Security to develop a process to clear false name matches within 72 hours. Both sides say they expect to reach an agreement soon.

Meanwhile -- thank God! -- "the National Rifle Association and top Democrats have opened a dialogue about how to
beef up the database that gun vendors use to check a potential buyer's criminal and mental health background." But given how long it's taken to get these fertilizer-checks straight, I'm not about to hold my breath.