If only the Bush administration were as concerned about other civil liberties as is it about gun rights.

A report from the Government Accountability Office released last week outlines the absurdity. Individuals on the terrorist watch list can legally purchase a gun in the United States. It defies logic. A person who is supposedly too much of a threat to get on an airplane, can walk into a gun store or Wal-Mart and buy whatever weapon he or she sees fit. The only exceptions are if the person also happens to be a convicted felon, illegal immigrant or mentally ill.

We fully appreciate the dilemma law enforcement faces. Many of the people on the FBI watch list haven’t been convicted of any crimes. But neither has Jose Padilla, a person suspected of ties to al-Qaida who has been held in a military prison without trial or access to an attorney.

According to the GAO, 44 gun buyers between February 2004 and June 2004 showed up on the terror watch list; 35 of them were able to purchase the weapons. And the FBI is actually prohibited by law from using the information collected during the background checks to investigate the people or their intentions.

It’s a difficult, but, we suppose, tough stand for individual liberties during a time of “heightened security.”

But it’s just crazy that the FBI cannot investigate gun purchasers but can compel libraries and bookstores to turn over the records of their customers. Or conduct searches without informing the person that their privacy has been violated. Or subpoena private e-mail without the person knowing.

The National Rifle Association has done a masterful job protecting the right of terror suspects to buy guns in America. Maybe we need to sign them up to help protect the rest of our civil liberties, which are being quietly eroded in the name of protecting us from terrorism.