The Veterans Disarmament Act -HR 2640, section 102 (1)©(iv)HAS "PASSED" IN THE HOUSE

Here is a copy of the first article I read, but I will address what I found out from Senators Boxers office and Sen. Fienstiens office today (10/11/07). I know this has been posted here before, BUT, it has now PASSED in Congress!

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((1)©(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).

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."

"If someone is so fearful that they are going to start using their weapons to protect their rights, it makes me very nervous that these people have weapons at all." — Rep. Henry Waxman

Yeah, Henry, I'll bet somebody, like a military veteran, with training and combat experience protecting their rights makes you even more nervous that they have weapons at all!

Looks like the plan is to disarm those folks first.

Interesting that all it takes is a psychiatrist giving their 'expert' opinion that someone is a danger to himself and others. Let's see - liberal judges, liberal lawyers, liberal psychiatrists. How many of those do you think don't already consider patriotic Americans to be nutcases, and a danger to liberals?

And, they may have names on the list that shouldn't be there, but you are still free to spend a lot of time and effort to get you name expunged. Don't know if you'll be successful, but they'll still let you try.

Can Soviet style gulags, "correction camps", be far behind?

I know that sounds "nutty", but how many Americans thought legislation like this would be considered, much less passed, by our gov't representatives today, or ever?

God Bless you and thank you for your service. We HAVE to fight this fight for every hero who has ever served. Every person like you!

Just seeing you in your uniform brings so much emotion into it again for me. This is what it’s all about. We can’t let this happen, we just can’t.

I called all the men I worked on “My boys”. As you know, there is a special bond with the men and women you serve with.

This summer my husband and I etched some of our friends names off the wall in DC. Before we went to the wall, we went to the Vietnam Woman's Memorial to see the monument there.

I got to walk around the Womens monument for the first time with a female veteran I served with. My husband and grandson were there too.

It was emotional to say the least.

While there, a young tour guide had a group of about 80 there telling them what the monument stood for. When it was erected, etc. He was just saying “So, lets move on...” when I happened by.

He’d left out an important part so I asked him “How many nurses died in Nam?”

He said “Eight nurses died in country”.

I thanked him and proceeded to continue walking around the monument. Then a voice rang out “Did you serve during Vietnam?”

I said “Yes, I did, and so did my friend over there”.

We were swarmed by all 80 people in the tour. I don’t know where the tour guide went, and never saw him again.

A couple men suggested the women have their pictures taken with us. They were middle aged and teenage women. They were actually “moved” to be with us. It was so moving to be appreciated that way.

I’m on a cane because of my disability and I get sick. So I had to actually sit down. The young women wanted to touch me, and they were saying how cool it was to be with us. They cried...

The same thing was happening to my friend. It was emotional and filled us with such pride. Especially to see young women being so proud of other women who served.

After pictures were over, they held us, and thanked us for our service. I pointed out my husbands service too.

The men came over and hugged us and thanked us too.

Then we went over to the wall, and found our friends to etch their names. We do that every time there is a traveling wall, and this was the first time we’d done it on the real wall.

We love our friends who served and gave the ultimate sacrifice. We love our friends who served and came home mixed up. We love our friends in arms who served beside us, and are still in contact with so many of them.

Oddly enough, when you meet a Marine, Sailor, Troop from any branch, there just seems to be an instant bond. We know what we’ve been through. We are brothers and sisters.

That’s why we have to help them fight a battle like this one.

We can’t let them be treated like criminals, felons, when all they’ve done is volunteered to fight all enemies foreign and domestic.

The Vietnam Vets are the perfect statistic to show no rampant shooting spree’s have happened because of PTSD. They’ve needed help, and had to fight for it. But they didn’t need insult to injury which is what this bill will do!

How many won’t seek help with a bill like this. And then, how many will slip the surly bonds of sanity because they couldn’t get help, or go back to a job in law enforcement?

How many active duty won’t be able to continue in the military because they can’t carry a gun anymore, because they started to suffer PTSD, but could have been rehabilitated?

This is so insane.

God protect our awesome troops!

We’re so proud of them. We stop them and tell them they are the best of the best. And ask them to thank their families too! And that includes their Mom’s and Dad’s! Grandma and Grandpa’s. Everyone who’s loving them and worrying about them! Because they’re serving too!

So this will be a BIG SLAP in their faces too.

Lets pray to the Father that we can get a call in going to get the message out that we won’t stand for this one, not at all!

Thanks, and again, God protect them, and God Bless! Because getting this overturned will be impossible!

Remember, the LINK to all the senators Wash DC phone numbers is in the first article. PLEASE CALL... and PLEASE PASS THIS AROUND TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!!!!

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