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             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

       Larry Pratt has been Executive Director of Gun Owners of America for 27 
      years. GOA is a national membership organization of 300,000 Americans 
      dedicated to promoting their second amendment freedom to keep and bear 
      arms. 
      He published a book, Armed People Victorious, in 1990 and was editor of a 
      book, Safeguarding Liberty: The Constitution & Militias, 1995. His latest 
      book, On the Firing Line: Essays in the Defense of Liberty was published 
      in 2001. 
      The GOA web site is:  gunowners.org. Pratt's weekly talk show Live Fire is 
      archived there at: www.gunowners.org/radio.htm   
      E-Mail: ldpratt@gunowners.org 
      Either Pratt or another GOA spokesman is available for press interviews.

       
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      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.