I don’t think that impractical, extreme interpretations of the Second Amendment do anything to advance its noble purposes. The framers’ outside writings on the topic of who should have the right to bear arms, in some cases stated clearly that felons and the insane did not have this right, and in all cases were written in the context of a society where common sense still ruled the day. And common sense dictates that felons (real ones, not some of the modern administrative “felonies” that have been invented by socialists) and the mentally incompetent have no business owning, possessing, or using guns. Should a person with advanced Alzheimer’s who can no longer reliably recognize family members or distinguish them from complete strangers, really have an unfettered right to go out and buy a gun and keep it at home for “self-defense”? How would that work when the person can’t distinguish an intruder from a spouse or a home nursing aide? What about a severely autistic young man who’s given to violent outbursts, but has obviously not been charged with any crimes for those outbursts due to his clear inability to control himself?
It is well-established law that ALL rights are subject to being revoked from individuals after due process — even the right to continue living, since the framers of the Constitution and Bill of Rights lived in an era when the death penalty was almost universally accepted as form of legal punishment, and did not choose to prohibit it. The process of individual adjudication, whether for crimes or mental competence or anything else, will never be perfect, but so far no one has invented a better system for maintaining a peaceful and prosperous society.
Ask yourself, what if the federal government said that anyone charged as mentally defective can't get a gun, and your state said you actually had to be convicted? Should your state follow federal guidelines and submit your record to the federal government even though you were found competent by a state judge and your case dismissed?
Same principle.
"Federal law prohibits anyone who has been “adjudicated as a mental defective,”
What does that mean? Geez, go through a divorce and child custody battle, be diagnosed with cancer, lose a limb in an auto accident, lose a child, flunk out of school, get fired from your job -- in those situations, you're not mentally fit. Doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to buy a gun.
In many states they will take your guns on an accusation of a crime and not return them - ever.