Restoring Gun Rights

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The New York Times has reported that ex-convicts, even those with a record of violent crime, are having a relatively easy time regaining their rights to own firearms, some getting these rights restored with little or no review of their cases.

New York Times reporter Michael Luo wrote that a man convicted of two previous felonies had no trouble having his firearm ownership rights restored without having to go through any hearings on the matter. According to the report, the former felon had a long history of mental health problems and his own friends had described him as dangerous.

There are cases of those who had served time for manslaughter and even first-degree murder who reacquired such rights. Over 3,000 criminals since 1995 have regained this right to own firearms, and according to data provided by state police forces and the courts, 13 percent of these former convicts have gone on to commit crime again.

It is standard procedure to deny ex-convicts certain rights, such as the right to vote. It is mystifying how authorities can insist that voting, which is merely an expression of opinion, be denied those who have a history of crime, when it cannot be used to inflict harm on anyone. But with those who actually have a history of using guns to maim or kill others, the authorities see no obstacle to the reinstatement of their rights to legally regain possession of exactly the tools they used to commit their criminal acts of violence.

By federal law, firearms ownership is denied former criminals. In the late 1960s, the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and President Kennedy touched off riots, and calls from the public for stricter gun control. Congress then extended the firearms ban to include even those who had not been convicted of violent crimes. President Lyndon B. Johnson praised the new law, saying it marked a new beginning for everyone concerned with law and order, with the National Rifle Association (NRA) itself supporting the new bill. But in the late 1970s, pro-gun groups lobbied for revisions to the law. In 1986, the Firearm Owners’ Protection Act (FOPA) was entered into legislation. Federal gun control laws were considerably affected by this.

There are still some states which make it difficult for former convicts to acquire firearms, but there are others that are far less strict. There are even states in which rights are restored automatically after convicts complete their sentences, as long as their crimes were nonviolent.

What seems most reasonable is the selective restoration to former convicts of certain rights, such as the right to vote. But perhaps for those with a history of inflicting violence on others, the means with which they did this should continue to be kept out of their hands.

Post courtesy of Monica Risam Nicklin