Can I add a few points to Kevin’s notes about Adam Gadahn?

Gadahn is just as Kevin describes, but he also is the 21st century version of Lord Haw-Haw. That, you may recall, was the nickname used to refer to William Joyce, an announcer and propagandist for Germany Calling, a Nazi radio broadcast to the U.K. and the U.S.

Joyce was American-born, Irish-raised, and a member of the British Union of Fascists before he fled to Germany where he acquired citizenship in 1939. Captured by British forces in northern Germany toward the end of the war, William Joyce was hanged for treason in 1946.

I think it’s regrettable that we can’t contemplate the same fate for Mr. Gadahn, who on Friday released an Internet message (see here and here) — produced by as-Sahab, al-Qaeda’s media division — calling on Muslims in America to go to gun shows, purchase automatic weapons, and use them to carry out lone-wolf terrorist attacks.

“What are you waiting for?” Gadahn asks. He adds that serious punishment is unlikely: “Over these past few years, I’ve seen the release of many, many Mujahideen whom I had never even dreamed would regain their freedom.” He’s quite right: FDD’s Tom Joscelyn has been researching the growing list of al-Qaeda and Taliban commanders who were residents of Guantanamo before being released because, as you know, holding terrorists at Gitmo assists al-Qaeda’s recruitment efforts.

“Muslims in the West have to remember that they are perfectly placed to play an important and decisive part in the Jihad against the Zionists and crusaders, and to do major damage to the enemies of Islam, waging war on their religion, sacred places, and things, and brethren,” says Gadahn. “This is a golden opportunity and a blessing.”

He says that “America is absolutely awash with easily obtainable firearms. You can go down to a gun show at the local convention center and come away with a fully automatic assault rifle, without a background check, and most likely without having to show an identification card.”

That’s not correct, as Kevin makes clear. A fully automatic assault rifle — or any fully automatic firearm — is very difficult to acquire due to serious restrictions already in place. But one can, I believe, buy a kit that will enable the conversion of an AK semi-automatic into a fully automatic weapon. And even a semi-automatic, in the hands of a trained terrorist, can do a great deal of damage. Jared Loughner, accused in the shooting of Rep. Gabby Gifford, was untrained, alone, and had only a semi-automatic Glock. As I’ve pointed out, it is currently possibly for an individual on a terrorist watch list to be refused permission to board a plane at any airport in America, then to get in his car and drive to a gun store and purchase firearms. The restrictions that apply to convicted criminals and the seriously mentally ill do not apply to those on terrorist watch lists. Rep. Peter King and Sen. Frank Lautenberg call this the “Terror Gap” and are trying to close it — an uphill battle because of concern (which I do not share) that even this commonsensical measure will weaken the Second Amendment (which I support).