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
