The Constitution is a great document - Congress should read it someday!

by Mike Crane

The Second Amendment to the US Constitution contains a clause that most citizens can clearly understand: " ... shall not be infringed." One does not need to be a rocket scientist or have the mental capacity of Albert E. Einstein to understand what "shall not be infringed" means. While the article by Larry Pratt below is very well written and presents a very eloquent explanation of why H.R. 2640 should be defeated not passed, it is only exposing the tip of the iceberg. When you or your family are faced with a lunatic or just plain ole ordinary criminal who is preparing to do you, your family or even your fellow citizens bodily harm - Congress will not be there to help you! All one has to do is take a look at the much publicized incident at Virginia Tech, which is the driving force behind this legislation. With similar intended legislation Virginia had made possession of the means for self defense illegal at Virginia Tech. So when a lunatic decided to shoot as many people as he could, who was there to help the now disarmed citizens:

• The Virginia Legislature was not there, had they been - most would have run like greased lightning!
• The local government officials were not there, had they been - most would have run like greased lightning!
• The school administration was not there, although they had praised the Virginia Legislature for disarming the citizens, had they been - most would have run like greased lightning!
• Congress was not there, had they been - most would have run like greased lightning!

No one, no agency, no elected official, no appointed official, no one who had participated in making self defense illegal was there to help the citizens whose life now depended on stopping a lunatic. So the citizens died! Congress passed this bill by a voice vote which means there was no opposition to this bill. They don't give a hoot about the Constitution nor if you - the average non privileged citizen - lose your life some day because you lacked the means of self defense. Once again, the Constitution has been ignored, once again the two major parties have shown they are just the two wings of the Special Interest party. No citizen should be deprived of their rights without due process. Dumping records into a database does not constitute due process - never has and never will. Even those of you are opposed to the Second Amendment should begin realizing that your rights are being nibbled away, piece by piece, bite by bite, when you support taking away the rights of others. "No matter how big the cookie and how small the bites, eventually you run out of cookie." Nothing is going to change until you - the citizens make a change! Perhaps we have too many Republicans and Democrats in government!   VETERANS DISARMAMENT ACT TO BAR VETS FROM OWNING GUNS
By Larry Pratt
September 22, 2007
NewsWithViews.com 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(b)(1)(C)(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). So how will this bill make things even worse? 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." © 2007 Larry Pratt - All Rights Reserved

---

Copyright Issues?