I'm not sure the person who opened this thread really deserves a response, but for Jed and others who have responded intelligently, I'll chime in. I am all in favor of the bill that was just passed by the House, and given that I am also a voting American citizen, I am exercising MY right to voice support for the initiative, rather than protest against it. Certainly we should watch these things so that we don't end up with our government having too much power over things that they should not have power over. However, I believe that one of the the primary functions of our government is to "provide for the common defense," and I want them to have the tools to do the job as well as it can be done. New threats call for new tools. I think we need to recognize that there are a number of entities out there who would try to destroy or curtail the freedoms we currently enjoy; and speaking for myself, the US government is not the one I'm most worried about.