New Federal Legislation on Mental Ineligibility from Firearms Ownership
BY Herschel Smith
13 years, 6 months ago
From Jeff Winkler at The Daily Caller:
Recently introduced federal gun legislation would codify and greatly expand the definition of those barred from owning a gun because they suffer from broad, umbrella-like definitions of mental health problems. Mental health advocates, however, say legislators reacting to “deranged” people going on shooting sprees are “completely missing the point.”
Last week, New York Democratic Rep. Carolyn McCarthy introduced the Fix Gun Checks Act of 2011, a nearly-identical resolution to that introduced in the Senate in March by her New York colleague, Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer. Both bills include a section dedicated to further codifying in federal law what it means to be “adjudicated as a mental defective.” The proposed change would label any person a “mental health defective” who appears to “lack the mental capacity to contract or manage his own affairs,” or is “compelled” to receive counseling or medication.
Other, seemingly more obvious, definitions of a “mental health defective” include anyone who has been found criminally insane, found incompetent to stand trial or found not guilty by reason of mental deficiencies.
According to the legislation, decisions of whether someone is of subnormal intelligence, competency and/or mental illness are to be decided by a “court, board, commission, or other lawful authority.” No medical qualifications or background in psychological sciences are specified as necessary for such lawful authorities.
A court, board, commission or lawful authority. Right. And as for people who have been on anxiety medication? Or perhaps people who were diagnosed as ADHD who had been on ritalin at one time? How about people who went to their pastor for marriage counseling?
I’ve said it before. It’s ironic how illiberal some liberals can be. There is actually nothing about so-called liberals that is liberal. They are all statists and control freaks. I have never met one who doubts that the state doesn’t have an answer for everything. It can right every wrong, compensate every injustice, and prevent every evil. A new law is apparently the answer for crimes with weapons, administered, adjudicated, supervised and applied, of course, by the man. You know, that man that liberals say they hate so much?
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