But if the measure placed conservatives in a difficult political position, it included a further wrinkle.

Because there is little judicial oversight of the various terror watch lists included in the FBI database, several liberal and civil liberties groups — who are already often opposed to the lists — were concerned about taking away the constitutional right to bear arms from American citizens without due process.

Anderson indicated he was ambivalent about that issue.

“I don’t happen to believe that the military and the police state would make those many mistakes,” Anderson said of who ends up on the terror watch list.

But he also acknowledged that taking away the Second Amendment rights of people who have not been convicted of any wrongdoing in court could be a problem.

“I don’t agree that anybody who’s on the terror watch list, on the no fly list, should have those kind of rights,” Anderson said.

“The problem is some of these guys are not convicted of anything, so that’s kind of a problem when you start talking about somebody who’s not convicted and pulling his rights.”