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."

Vets 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.

Haven't they been through enough already? Many of our Vietnam Vets have fought for years to get help from VA (and are STILL fighting for them). Then to have the mere fact they sought help come back to slap them in the face is further insult to injury!

What stats are Congress basing this bill on? This is a veiled attempt to take away the arms of all Americans and defy our 2nd Ammendment rights. Unless a Veteran is a prisoner, he still has his Second Ammendment rights! 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.

Not to mention how this will PREVENT our troops returning from theatre from getting help if they are having problems. Can you imagine how ANGRY they will be? (And who wouldn't be? We were when we read this! Not to mention how emotional we felt about it too.)

I have a brother with PTSD. He hunts and subsidizes his family with meat because his income has been limited by his VOLUNTARY service, which affected him! What a slap in the face to him and others who were affected by what they encountered while serving all of us. I've never felt he would harm anyone, not ever. We've known a lot of Vietnam Vets with PTSD who we've never felt were a threat to society. Remember the number of Vets we are dealing with. So the stats just aren't there to warrant this!

Not everybody who went to Nam was affected the same way. But we know that some were and we care about them. (Unless you're in Congress evidently!) But this is the most disgusting thing we've ever heard of.

Lets see, you've been changed forever for serving your country, now Congress is going to PUNISH you further? Now that's a big THANK YOU FOR SERVING and that's logic for you...

The troops serving today are so amazing. Doing several tours of duty. We appreciate them so much. So a slap in the face like this is really going to help! Talk about pulling a bandaide off a wound! A HUGE slap in the face when these brave troops have had to fight for every thing they get. We have always needed to encourage troops to go in for counseling if they had a problem. Imagine if they were law enforcement? You're telling them they can never do the job they did before they left to serve our country? Nice job congress!

We've been dealing with Vietnam Vets for how many years? And there is NO HUGE stats for shooting incidents!

So why in the world would you do something like this to our troops?

It's a veiled attempt to take away our Second Ammendment rights.. starting with the brave men and women who have been protecting THEIR sorry *sses!

When I called Sen's Boxer's and Feinsteins offices today, they said "yes, it has already passed in the House, and it's coming up for a vote in the Senate".

I told them that there are two Vets in this house. We've never been sorry to have served. One of us is 100 percent disabled, and the other 50% from a helicopter crash in Nam as a medivac pilot. My brother, who has PTSD, has never been sorry to have served, and he also volunteered.

But my brother never came back from Nam. In all these years, the young man who left, never returned. But no one fears him either. And now they want to PUNISH HIM?

This is INSANE!

I asked that they PLEASE advocate for our troops. The troops from before and now too. To do less is a horrible joke.

I even looked up the email I got on Snopes.com. Thinking it had to be a hoax. Surely they couldn't or wouldn't do MORE HARM to the troops who've served and are serving our country so well.

But, it's true.. it's all true.

I admit, during my conversation with both offices, I broke down near the end with each office. This IS EMOTIONAL. How can we allow this to happen to our Vets?

This is just too much for me to imagine. My brother having his rifle taken away. No more Elk or deer to feed his family. No more wild Turkey's to eat. After 30 some years?

What dignity he has left will be shattered. That young man who joined to fight for a country he loved so much.

It shames me to no end to imagine that his country would "continue" to do him harm. (His fight for benefits has been unreal.)

Please call your Senators. Please tell them to prevent this travesty from happening to our troops who've served. They deserve BETTER than this!

God forbid we treat them like common criminals by denying them this RIGHT afforded them by our Constitution!

It took me all of 5 minutes to make these two calls.

Please help to stop this travesty being visited on our nations hero's.

We owe it to them! PLEASE HELP OUR VETS!!!

Contact your State Senator and tell them to vote NO on this bill! You will be calling about the following:

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The Veterans Disarmament Act

HR 2640, section 102 (1)©(iv)

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Here is a list of Senators and their phone numbers. Just click on the link. At the top of the page it will say "choose a State" (don't even bother with any other information, this will get you what you need) and it will automatically come up with your Senators and the phone numbers:

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Agree...I knew NOTHING about it. I thought the email was a hoax. So I checked with Snopes.com first. It wasn’t. I called both Senators offices today and confirmed it’s TRUE!

They said they are getting quite a few calls. I was so emotional about it, and I must say, the clerks were very supportive to me.

But we have to support our troops on this. It’s so sad to think we’d allow this to happen to our troops.

I’m sick to my stomach.

If only we could get this out to O’Reilly or Hannity in time to get the word out big time!

Our Vets and troops are getting blind sighted.

It’s heartbreaking.

I did see where it was posted before, but I didn’t want to restart an old thread. We needed to let people know it has now PASSED in the house!

This just got dead serious!

Thanks for helping to get the word out.

I sent out emails to everyone I can think of.

Copying this and spreading it to Disabled Vets groups and Veterans of Foreign Wars is a good idea too!

ABSOLUTELY!

This is the most disgusting thing we’ve ever seen. I was so upset I cried. I kept seeing the POW’s I worked on, and the troops I’ve known who were messed up, but who I know for a fact would never harm a soul. Some since 1968.. and they still haven’t harmed a soul.

The same will be true of our brave troops today. Yet, this Democratically controlled House has passed this bill and it’s being forwarded to the Senate as I type.

It was confirmed to me today by Senators Boxer and Feinsteins offices.

We MUST call the offices of our Senators to get this stopped. Or our Vets are going to be treated like common criminals.

Then try getting this thing reversed. It will be a LONG TERM nightmare!

Please pass this around to every entity you know.

We are going to copy it and put at least 50 copies in the local VFW.

What in the heck has happened to our country?

They don’t even know the enemy our troops are fighting, and they are incapable of appreciating them like they should.

FRegards, VH&W

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