...IF Only. We NEED to toughen EXISTING Gun Laws
Our EXISTING
gun laws allow felons and people with mental/emotional disabilities to be
barred from legally purchasing/owning guns. (http://www.ncsl.org/research/civil-and-criminal-justice/possession-of-a-firearm-by-the-mentally-ill.aspx
AND http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/can-someone-possess-gun-after-criminal-conviction.html)
That’s right and proper.
Those on “Terror Watch Lists” and those under
FBI Investigation should also be barred UNTIL
they are cleared and removed...AND all
those cleared (those the government cannot make a case against MUST BE removed immediately upon
conclusion of a hearing).
We CAN
also change the parameters of the laws barring those with mental/emotional
problems WITHOUT further legislation
or debate. ALL those sentenced to “Anger
Management” for things like “road
rage” and domestic abuse charges
SHOULD be barred from legally owning
guns.
Further, ALL
those classified as “disabled” over mental/emotional problems from bipolar
disorder top PTSD SHOULD also have
their rights to own guns rescinded.
Some may ask, “What about police officers and other Peace
Officers disabled with PTSD?”
I’d reply, “ESPECIALLY
former police officers and other peace officers who are disabled with various mental/emotional
disabilities!” The training such people have, coupled with their documented
disabilities make them “overt dangers to themselves and others.”
Right now, we arbitrarily require “mental disability”
to be defined as “involuntary confinement in a mental health facility.” That is
entirely nebulous, arbitrary and capricious...and it SHOULD BE changed, NOT
with legislation, but by the stroke of a pen.
That bar is ridiculously too high, especially in our
current deinstitutionalized world.
ALL
of this SHOULD BE just “common
sense.” It’s NOT a “punishment”
to those so disabled, it’s merely putting the protection of society ABOVE the desires of a handicapped few.
Moreover, as much as felony and mental health
records are often protected from public view, they MUST BE surrendered in ALL cases when a person seeks to buy a gun,
or apply for certain kinds of employment. It must be implicit in such
applications that a person’s criminal and mental health records WILL BE opened to scrutiny.
In such circumstances, public safety must come
first.
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