While the U.S. House of Representatives has passed legislation that would temporarily prevent any new Syrian refugees from entering the United States, and would tighten restrictions before they do so, that program is unlikely to allow any would-be terrorists to slip into the country. As PA Sen.Bob Casey explained, “The United States does have a rigorous process for vetting refugee applicants, which includes several in-person interviews by U.S. officials, security checks by multiple agencies, significant documentation and a health screening. This process, which is the most rigorous vetting in the world, takes over a year. The process requires refugees to be vetted by the National Counterterrorism Center, the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center, the Department of Homeland Security and the Departments of State and Defense. This review process includes biometric and biographic checks, interviews by specially trained officers who scrutinize the applicant’s explanation of individual circumstances to ensure the applicant is a genuine refugee and is not known to present security concerns to the United States.”

The refugee program allows some 70,000 refugees per year to enter the U.S. Now compare that to the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), which allows as many as 20 million people a year to enter the country while legally bypassing the traditional visa process. Any terrorist wishing to enter the U.S. and cause harm is far more likely to follow that route than to try to pose as a refugee in a process that will take more than a year.

New York Sen. Charles Schumer is sponsoring legislation to close VWP loopholes. A press release from his office said, “(VWP) is run by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which designates certain countries whose citizens have valid passports and can therefore travel to the U.S. for a short visit without going through the traditional visa processes. In order to travel to the U.S., these passengers must fill out a series of informational requests online; they are then checked against a series of databases in the U.S. like the terror watch lists. However, Schumer said that because the process is expedited and utilized by millions of travelers every year, we must be vigilant to prevent the disastrous consequences, should a terrorist enter the U.S. through the VWP.”

The VWP process is very quick, sometimes concluded within a few moments and is completed online with no requirement for an in-person interview. The refugee program requires at least two in-person interviews before the refugee is permitted to enter the United States.

Following the ISIS attack in Paris, the plan is to add the provisions of the VWP legislation introduced in September to the Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act introduced in March. The latter would prevent the sale of guns to people who are on U.S. terrorist watch lists. As Schumer said, “Under current federal law, the federal government cannot stop the sale of guns or explosives to known or suspected terrorists unless they meet one of nine other disqualifying criteria, such as being a convicted felon or domestic abuser. Therefore, ISIS bombers and others could have no problems purchasing a virtually unlimited amount of weapons in the United States, despite being on the terrorist watch list.”

It is not surprising that some lawmakers and groups are opposed to the part of the legislation regarding guns. The online magazine published by the National Rifle Association wrote, “Amid the horror and outrage over last week’s Paris terrorist attacks, on the pretext of stopping terrorism, New York Democrat [sic] Congressman Pete King is pushing a scheme to deny your Second Amendment rights—and deny your right to due process in the bargain—by banning firearm sales to anyone on the FBI’s so-called Terrorist Watch List.” King, incidentally, is a Republican, not a Democrat.

This is not merely an academic question. According to the Government Accountability Office, people on the FBI terror watch list were able to successfully purchase guns more than 2,000 times during the 10-year period ending in 2014.

It is hard to believe that known or suspected terrorists can be prevented from boarding a plane, but cannot currently be prevented from buying firearms. It’s even harder to believe that anyone would seriously defend such an arrangement.