Posted on 02/25/2013 6:07:03 PM PST by raptor22
Guns: Veterans who bore arms to defend their country are receiving letters that they may be declared mentally incompetent and have their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms stripped from them. Welcome home.
The contempt by the Obama administration for our Constitution and our rights has reached a new low with news the Veterans Administration has begun sending letters to veterans telling them they will be declared mentally incompetent and stripped of the Second Amendment rights unless they can prove to unnamed bureaucrats to the contrary.
On Thursday, Michael Connelly, executive director of the United States Justice Foundation, said veterans have begun getting warning letters from the Veterans Administration (VA). The letters inform the recipients that he or she must provide evidence to the contrary within 60 days. If the veteran desires a hearing, they must inform the VA within 30 days.
"A determination of incompetency will prohibit you from purchasing, possessing, receiving, or transporting a firearm or ammunition. If you knowingly violate any of these prohibitions, you may be fined, imprisoned, or both pursuant to the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, Pub.L.No. 103-159, as implemented at 18, United States Code 924(a)(2)," the letter reads.
The VA states on its Fiduciary Program website that, according to the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, signed into law in 1993, being determined as unable to manage your benefits prevents you from owning and possessing a firearm or ammunition.
While mental health is a factor in the current gun control debate and recent mass shootings in Newtown, Conn., and Aurora, Colo., and elsewhere have in common the questionable mental state of the shooters, to single out returning vets from Iraq and Afghanistan this way is unconscionable and unconstitutional.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.investors.com ...
Quis custodiet ipsos custodet.
(Who will guard the guards?)
If given the power, the Federal government will deny most people seeking their permission to buy a gun. There will be no respect as Holder and crowd will go for broke as the VA is doing to Vets.
Congress had best be careful what power they give to the Feds in vetting who gets their second amendment rights. Liberals will be classifying everyone as mentally ill and therefore, not qualified to own a gun. It will be like the Soviet Union.
I hope the courts restore these vets’ rights. The VA is not to be trusted with personal information.
IBD EDITORIAL PING
We need to find out the criteria used by the VA to determine who receives these letters.
If it is truly a blanket letter, sent to all returning Vet’s, this outrage must stopped, NOW!
Natural rights exist weather they are sanctioned by the government or not, they can not be restored because they cannot be denied
I believe they are targeting those diagnosed with PTSD or any that claim PTSD.
Expect the same under Obamacare. A prescription for prozac, xanax, or any detox or substance addiction treatment will result in "The letter". No more deer hunting, trap shooting, or home protection from criminals of the pen or the sword.
The silence from our top brass in the military is scary on this matter.
I read more about this today and it seems to be aimed at those that the VA has decided have mental issues; according to what I read there is no hearing required to determine competency, it is a VA determination. If that is the case it is really over the top- if they were civilians it would take a hearing and rulings with defense possible. I know the military and the VA have a big push on now for mental health concerns due to PTSD, suicide, and other issues.
Returning military are urged to seek mental health for many issues that may or may not mean they are incompetent or suicidal or a risk with firearms so I don’t agree with this without the same type of oversight it takes to declare a civilian incompetent.
I would sure like to know more about the process involved and if it is true they do not have a hearing with the chance to present their side if they don’t agree.
IBD EDITORIAL PING
I don’t know.
Some people are too evil or too nutty to be trusted with a gun. I have an ex wife. Some days she is one, other days the other. Best if she doesn’t have a gun.
Still, it is hard to trust the government to guess right as to who is too nutty or too evil, and who is harmlessly nutty. For evil, innocent until proven guilty is, to my mind, the proper standard.
To my mind it is best that most people not proven to be nutty or evil have the opportunity to be armed in self defense, and that people who can not, or will not should be protected by their fellow citizens. A penumbra of doubt protects people who are not absolutely known to be disarmed, which is why CCW permits work.
Criminals fear most the sudden and acute failure of the victim selection process. Nutty people don’t quite fear like normal folks, but they often understand risk or potential risk of early frustration of their nutty schemes, and perhaps return to the planning stage. If that fails, they can perhaps be stopped without an 11 minute delay between their revealing their plan and the arrival of the gendarmes.
I recall Audie Murphy was once accused of assault with a deadly weapon in court.
His defense was along the lines of “I didn’t shoot at him with intent to kill. If I had, he would be dead.”
Verdict: Innocent.
Having said that, Audi Murphy suffered from nightmares, and bouts of what could be depression. He died young by aircraft accident.
Our first Muslim President is very afraid that when Vets finally realize that he is a Muslim traitor that they will put a stop to his games, one way or another.
The rest of America is safely in the bag. They are the biggest fools in history and will do nothing.
Yet they try on every level to deny us those rights.
I saw a plea in a FB post to please, please, please tell some senator to protect our rights for us.
Naw, I don’t need him protecting my god given natural rights for me.
I’ll do it myself.
And find those responsible, wait for it, mentally incompetent to execute the duties of their position.
“After the war, they took Army dogs and rehabilitated them for civilian life. But they turned soldiers into civilians immediately, and let ‘em sink or swim.”
Audie Murphy
Quote from Wikipedia
“If given the power, the Federal government will deny most people seeking their permission to buy a gun. “
Therein lies one of many problems I have with Obamacare, it gets them into every aspect of both your life and physical being.
These people have no bounds when it comes to the individual, the masses, or our wish to just be left alone. We’re a herd in their eyes.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.