Grassley: DOJ gun ban unfair to veterans

The Hill ^ | April 15, 2015 | By Tim Devaney

[Brad from Tennessee]

The Obama administration is unfairly blocking tens of thousands of military veterans from owning guns, a Republican senator is charging.

The FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is filled with military veterans who are essentially banned from owning guns, even though they may not be a danger to society, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) wrote this week in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder.

The gun ban "effectively voids their Second Amendment rights,” Grassley said.

At issue is whether these veterans are suffering from mental illnesses.

According to a 2013 Senate report, the Department of Veteran Affairs is responsible for reporting more than 143,000 beneficiaries, including about 83,000 veterans, to the “mental defective” category of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

Any federal agency can report people to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, but the VA's recommendations account for about 99 percent of the people who are listed in the mental defective category.

Being listed blocks veterans from purchasing guns.

However, Grassley claims many of these veterans should not be precluded from owning guns. . .

[PAR35]

Ah, so the Second Amendment is conditional on receipt of government benefits.

Civics 101 - any Constitutional right can be voluntarily waived.

You might want Eddie Ray Routh standing behind you in your 'well regulated militia', but I don't.

[centurion316]

I know you'd like to ensure that veterans like Eddie Ray Routh manage to keep access to all of the guns that they want. I don't think he has a gun right now. Perhaps you should take him one.

It's really not that hard to follow a discussion, even you can do it if you try just a little. My point has been that veterans (or anyone for that matter) cannot be forfeit a Constitutional right without due process. Routh is an adjudicated felon, he has forfeited his right to own a weapon. Do you understand this point?

If you favor confiscate guns from veterans receiving treatment from PTSD, then you need to join with the Brady Bunch, the Mothers Demand Action for Gun Sense, and all of the rest gun grabbers, you agree with their point that guns must be confiscated from anyone who might make someone feel less safe. I'm sure that they will make you welcome.

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[Lazamataz]

Yeah. Democrats will love your viewpoint. I, obviously, take a different one. I do not feel any Constitutional right enumerated in the Bill of Rights, are waived for the simple act of taking a government benefit.

Not sure what your waving around this 'Routh' strawman has to do with anything, but I am quite opposed to your viewpoint, and would vigorously oppose it in a court of law.

You'd end up thanking me when the BATFE or the local authorities came to remove your guns for accepting Medicare.

[Red in Blue PA]

Well said Laz. Some people need to think before typing up such idiocy.

[Lazamataz]

See his response. This is the Era of Doubling-Down. He did so.

[zaxtres]

An O2 Mask mishap? What exactly is a Oxygen Mask mishap? Man do you even think before you let the crap fly? Do you even know what Decompression Sickness is? How many types there are and that it can cause anything from annoyance to permanent paralysis to death? Do you know that divers aren’t the only ones who can suffer from its effects and that it is really atmospheric pressure that causes Decompression Sickness.

The decompression sickness was caused by a “oxygen mask mishap” - it didn’t fit right and the expert who fitted the masks got mine wrong out of 18 people in the chamber that day.

Some people need to think before they respond or even let drivel come spewing from their mouths.

[zaxtres]

I never stated I put in for PTSD. I have left leg sciatica paralysis, cranial nerve damage, tinnitus (from myringotomies in both ears) and other ailments that were the direct or indirect cause of having the bends. Diabetes was earned in the course of treatment.

So again a “oxygen mishap”? How do you even have one of those?

[dinodino]

Did you post to the wrong Freeper? I didn’t say anything about PTSD other than that the cop should be prosecuted and have to personally pay damages.

[novemberslady]

The doctors at the va have been especially chatty with patients this year. Very curious about if they own guns, and going further than that.

Funny how the doctors aren't more concerned about their patients not getting their pain meds at night while in the hospital.
No one is asking where the meds go.
But maybe they're not being told to question that...

[PAR35]

An O2 Mask mishap? What exactly is a Oxygen Mask mishap?

Wondering why you are getting so stirred up about my use of the term 'mishap' to describe the use of an ill-fitting oxygen mask, or as you said, "my Oxygen mask didn’t fit right".

Was it the use of the word 'mishap'? You do know that among its meanings are 'unnecessary and unforeseen trouble resulting from an unfortunate event'. Are you suggesting that the event was deliberate on someone's part? Other definitions are 'an unfortunate accident' or 'misfortune'. One dictionary give's this example 'The fire was a tragic mishap that could have been prevented.'; another this ' If the surgeon operates on the wrong leg when you go in for knee surgery? Now, that’s a mishap to get upset about.'

Your inappropriate anger does suggest that perhaps you shouldn't be around firearms. Perhaps you could find someone at the VA to discuss this with.