If someone is judged mentally incompetent, do you WANT them to have guns?
The original article isn't much better:
http://redflagnews.com/headlines/disarming-americas-heros-veterans-receiving-official-letters-prohibiting-them-from-purchasing-possessing-receiving-or-transporting-a-firearm-or-ammunition
It argues:
"The answer seems to be it is simply because they are veterans. At the USJF we intend to find the truth by filing a Freedom of Information Act request to the Department of Veterans Affairs to force them to disclose the criteria they are using to place veterans on the background check list that keeps them from exercising their Second Amendment rights. Then we will take whatever legal steps are necessary to protect our American warriors."
Oddly enough, I have 25 years in, and haven't been judged mentally incompetent. If the VA doctors have reason to tell the VA that you aren't capable of handling your money, then maybe you are NOT competent to handle guns.
This is the best picture I could get:
A critical detail is *who* does the judging. In this case, a VA bureaucrat, not a doctor or judge, decides that the veterans are incompetent. What criteria they use are appalling.
EMPHASIS MINE:
(Dec-03-12) “Over the past several years, four unsuccessful attempts have been made to turn the Veterans Second Amendment Protection Act into law. Last week, one of its 21 co-sponsors in the Senate, Republican Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, tried to attach it as amendment to the defense appropriations bill. It momentarily “threatened to become the biggest sticking point” in getting that $631 billion bill passed. It appears Coburn will give up that effort, but seek to add the amendment to some other bill.
“At issue is whether a veteran who has been found unable to handle his or her FINANCIAL AFFAIRS should have the right to own a gun.
“The Department of Veterans Affairs frequently assigns someone else, often a family member, to handle a veteran’s finances, including his or her government pension and benefits.
“This triggers a report to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) that the veteran is “incapacitated.” Under the law, any such person, veteran or not, is barred from buying or owning guns. The law also applies to family members living under the same roof.”