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Dead Constitution See other Dead Constitution Articles Title: VETERANS DISARMAMENT ACT TO BAR VETS FROM OWNING GUNS Hundreds of thousands of veterans -- from Vietnam through Operation Iraqi Freedom -- are at risk of being banned from buying firearms if legislation that is pending in Congress gets enacted. How? The Veterans Disarmament Act -- which has already passed the House -- would place any veteran who has ever been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) on the federal gun ban list. This is exactly what President Bill Clinton did over seven years ago when his administration illegitimately added some 83,000 veterans into the National Criminal Information System (NICS system) -- prohibiting them from purchasing firearms, simply because of afflictions like PTSD. The proposed ban is actually broader. Anyone who is diagnosed as being a tiny danger to himself or others would have his gun rights taken away ... forever. It is section 102(b)(1)(C)(iv) in HR 2640 that provides for dumping raw medical records into the system. Those names -- like the 83,000 records mentioned above -- will then, by law, serve as the basis for gun banning. No wonder the Military Order of the Purple Heart is opposed to this legislation. The House bill, HR 2640, is being sponsored by one of the most flaming anti-Second Amendment Representatives in Congress: Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY). Another liberal anti-gunner, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), is sponsoring the bill in the Senate. Proponents of the bill say that helpful amendments have been made so that any veteran who gets his name on the NICS list can seek an expungement. But whenever you talk about expunging names from the Brady NICS system, you’re talking about a procedure that has always been a long shot. Right now, there are NO EXPUNGEMENTS of law-abiding Americans’ names that are taking place under federal level. Why? Because the expungement process which already exists has been blocked for over a decade by a "funds cut-off" engineered by another anti-gunner, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY). So how will this bill make things even worse? Well, two legal terms are radically redefined in the Veterans Disarmament Act to carry out this vicious attack on veterans’ gun rights. One term relates to who is classified a "mental defective." Forty years ago that term meant one was adjudicated "not guilty" in a court of law by reason of insanity. But under the Veterans Disarmament Act, "mental defective" has been stretched to include anyone whom a psychiatrist determines might be a tiny danger to self or others. The second term is "adjudicate." In the past, one could only lose one's gun rights through an adjudication by a judge, magistrate or court -- meaning conviction after a trial. Adjudication could only occur in a court with all the protections of due process, including the right to face one's accuser. Now, adjudication in HR 2640 would include a finding by "a court, commission, committee or other authorized person" (namely, a psychiatrist). Forget the fact that people with PTSD have the same violent crime rate as the rest of us. Vietnam vets with PTSD have had careers and obtained permits to carry firearms concealed. It will now be enough for a psychiatric diagnosis (a "determination" in the language of the bill) to get a veteran barred for life from owning guns. Think of what this bill would do to veterans. If a robber grabs your wallet and takes everything in it, but gives you back $5 to take the bus home, would you call that a financial enhancement? If not, then we should not let HR 2640 supporters call the permission to seek an expungement an enhancement, when prior to this bill, veterans could not legitimately be denied their gun rights after being diagnosed with PTSD. Veterans with PTSD should not be put in a position to seek an expungement. They have not been convicted (after a trial with due process) of doing anything wrong. If a veteran is thought to be a threat to self or others, there should be a real trial, not an opinion (called a diagnosis) by a psychiatrist. If members of Congress do not hear from soldiers (active duty and retired) in large numbers, along with the rest of the public, the Veterans Disarmament Act -- misleadingly titled by Rep. McCarthy as the NICS Improvement Amendments Act -- will send this message to veterans: "No good deed goes unpunished." © 2007 Larry Pratt - All Rights Reserved Sign Up For Free E-Mail Alerts E-Mails are used strictly for NWVs alerts, not for sale Larry Pratt has been Executive Director of Gun Owners of America for 27 years. GOA is a national membership organization of 300,000 Americans dedicated to promoting their second amendment freedom to keep and bear arms. He published a book, Armed People Victorious, in 1990 and was editor of a book, Safeguarding Liberty: The Constitution & Militias, 1995. His latest book, On the Firing Line: Essays in the Defense of Liberty was published in 2001. The GOA web site is: http://gunowners.org. Pratt's weekly talk show Live Fire is archived there at: http://www.gunowners.org/radio.htm E-Mail: ldpratt@gunowners.org Either Pratt or another GOA spokesman is available for press interviews.
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#4. To: robin (#0)
Coming soon to everyone.
You got it. When former NJ Sen. Frank Lautenberg pushed through his domestic violence bill it barred all who were ever convicted of a misdemeanor domestic violence offense from owning firearms. A man who was arguing with his wife at the breakfast table grabbed her arms when she tried to repeatedly slap him, and he was convicted of assaulting her. He lost his gun rights. The govt found (after the law passed) that thousands of police officers had been convicted and because the law was retroactive (that is, ex-post facto which is supposed to be unconstitutional) there are police agencies nationwide who have to keep cops on the rubber gun squad until they retire. The Arizona sheriff who sued the feds and had part of the Brady law overturned because it imposed the unfunded mandate to conduct background checks for gun purchases wrote a great article explaining why the feds are trapped by Lautenberg. If the law stays on the books then the agencies have to keep all of these cops working at jails or on desks until they retire, but if the law is overturned then all of the cops who lost their jobs will have to be compensated for lost wages and promotions. When the feds realized what they'd done they actually toyed with the idea of exempting cops who were convicted of domestic violence offenses! But, needless to say they figured out that not only would feminists scream to high Heaven but other gun owners would have a cause of action to overturn the law based on the equal protection clause. If this proposed law passes (and will be retroactive) it will aggravate the same problem that Lautenberg started. Many active duty cops and military members have sought counseling for PTSD, and I'm guessing that once the feds realize that they'll be shooting themselves in the foot again that the bill will fail.
Not not mention the fact that anyone who believes in the 2nd Amendment who knows they need counseling, even for minor depression, will now be reluctant to do so due to the StateInc nazis attempting to take away their firearms. Again, TheStateInc is totally out of control and TheTreeOfLiberty needs watering very soon....very soon.
Exactly. And, according to their stats 50% of the American people have some minor mental disturbance. It will soon reach a point where if you want to own a gun that will be evidence of why you are legally precluded from doing so.
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