Is it Trolling?
18 U.S.C. §922(g)4 says, who has been adjudicated as a mental defective or who has been committed to a mental institution
is a prohibited person.
Trump went there. He suggested that people suffering from gender dysphoria are mentally ill.
If they are mentally ill then does 18 U.S.C. §922(g)4 apply?
Using the DSM-IV we see
DSM-IV (1994) – Gender Identity Disorder (pp. 532-538)
Diagnostic Criteria for Gender Identity Disorder
A. A strong and persistent cross-gender identification (not merely a desire for any perceived cultural advantages of being the other sex).
In children, the disturbance is manifested by four (or more) of the following:
- repeatedly stated desire to be, or insistence that he or she is, the other sex
- in boys, preference for cross-dressing or simulating female attire; in girls, rejection of frilly dresses in favor of more masculine attire and strong resistance to feminine dress
- strong and persistent preferences for cross-sex roles in make-believe play or fantasy play
- intense desire for other sex’s toys, games, and activities (grossly exaggerated)
- strong preference for playmates of the other sex
- in boys, assertion that his penis or testes are disgusting or will disappear or rejection of male stereotypes
- in girls, assertion that she has or will grow a penis or strong negative statements about having breasts or menstruating
B. Persistent discomfort with his or her sex or sense of inappropriateness in the gender role of that sex.
In children, the disturbance is manifested by any of the following: in boys, assertion that he will grow up to become a woman (not merely in role-playing); in girls, rejection of urination in a sitting position, assertion that she has or will grow a penis, or assertion that she does not want to grow breasts or menstruate. In adolescents and adults, the disturbance is manifested by symptoms such as preoccupation with getting rid of primary and secondary sex characteristics (e.g., request for hormones, surgery, or other procedures to physically alter sexual characteristics to simulate the other sex) or belief that he or she was born the wrong sex.
C. The disturbance is not concurrent with a physical intersex condition.
D. The disturbance causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
Specify if:
Sexually Attracted to Males/Females/Both
Code based on current age:
• 302.6 Gender Identity Disorder in Children
• 302.85 Gender Identity Disorder in Adolescents or Adults
Associated Features: Individuals with Gender Identity Disorder may attempt to conceal their disorder by passing as a member of the other sex. They may prefer the clothes, hairstyles, or mannerisms typical of the opposite sex. In children, the disorder may be manifested by a marked incongruence between what is usually thought of as male or female sexual identity and gender identity role. In adolescents and adults, the disturbance is manifested by symptoms such as a stated desire to be the other sex, frequent cross-dressing, desire to live or be treated as the other sex, or the conviction that his or her feelings and reactions are typical of the other sex.
There were situations where people with Gender Identity Disorder were classified as “mentally defective” under §922(g), but with the release of DSM-5, that is no longer possible, and it still requires an adjudication.
The trolling is because we now have Trump taking guns away from somebody, good from the left’s point of view while at the same time doing something to a member of a victim class, which is bad.
What’s a good leftist to do?
Noem v. Vasquez
In another win for the Trump Administration, the Supreme Court decided that the Constitution really does say that the President oversees the executive branch, not judges.
In —Marbury V. Madison, 5 U.S. 137 (1803) the Supreme Court defined who they were and what their job is. The gist of that decision is that the Supreme Court decides if a government action violates the Constitution. They gave themselves the power as the final arbitrator of what the law means.
Since that time there have been ongoing skirmishes between the branches as each branch attempts to wrest power from the other branches. In some cases it was one branch taking it from another branch to give to the third. Thus we have judges who think they can oversee immigration policy.
The left is playing one of their favorite games: redefining words. As I’ve said in the past, we can easily tell if the plain text of the Second Amendment covers the proposed conduct by looking to see if any of the usual suspects speaks up. If Giffords, Brady, or Everytown is involved, the plain text of the Second Amendment is implicated.
When an unmarked vehicle pulls up and 3 or 4 men jump out in full police gear wearing vests that say “POLICE” or “I.C.E.”, they know who it is. They aren’t unknown people. They are law enforcement officials.
They know damn well that it isn’t a kidnapping; it is an arrest. They know damn well that the officers are wearing face coverings because the left are violent. The left is willing to kill people to get their way.
The Court found that briefly detaining a person with reasonable suspicion is good enough. An I.C.E. agent can briefly detain a person they suspect of being a criminal illegal alien for reasonable suspicion. They must then release that person if they are not a criminal.
A person is not arrested if they are detained. They are not kidnapped. And they are not at any particular risk, unless they do something stupid..
I’m tired of reading about a “pastor” or “father” or “youth coach” that has been “kidnapped” by “masked men.” Reading just a few paragraphs in, it becomes obvious that the person in question was a criminal alien being arrested for deportation.
Freedom From Association
It has been pointed out that medical professionals making any statement suggesting they will discriminate in how they care for a patient is cause for dismissal.
The legal ramifications are so high that a medical facility can’t risk it. If some nurse says they are intentionally causing pain to a patient, that nurse must be fired. If they are not fired, the medical facility is ripe for a lawsuit, which they are likely to lose.
At this point many people who thought they were talking to like-minded people or who thought they were in the majority have reached the FO stage of the equation.
Businesses are finding that they have no customers. Employees are being shown the door and then finding out that they do not qualify for unemployment. FA and FO is happening all over the world.
In addition, people are speaking up in opposition to the vile, evil devils and finding that they are suddenly “Right wing extremists.”
They are being welcomed with milk and cookies and don’t understand how they got here.
Where is the violence coming from?
It is all in the definitions.
While there are multiple outlets reporting that there is more right-wing violence than left-wing violence, the singleton source leads back to the ADL.
Just a few observations. If the violence is anti-government, that is labeled as right-wing. Countless antifa thugs throwing firebombs at government buildings is “right-wing violence.” If charges are dropped, it wasn’t violence. Walking through the capitol is violence; burning cars is not.
The data is so corrupted that you can’t take it at face value.
Question Of The Week
Have you decided to go to red dots on your EDC?
Haven’t gone with with optics on my EDC. My Sig p365 SAS has a very clever embedded sight and all edges are smoothed for snag-free extraction.
Eyes are failing (and useless without glasses) so optics are in my future. Any thoughts on EDC concerns? Battery changing best practices,etc?
Green, but yes, considering it.
I put a green dot on the household spare Hellcat Pro and another pistol or two. Jury’s still out for me. I like being able to focus on the target (and with progressive lenses that also means not having to tilt my head way back to focus on the front sight). But it’s taking some getting used to.
Plus, Mrs B doesn’t seem to like them, and there’s a lot to be said for maintaining commonality of platform for our self defense guns.
Marking trans people or any mentally ill person as *automatically* having their rights suspended is anti-American and against the Constitution. Period. If you say trans people are mentally ill (which I believe they probably are, but then again, so am I and so is Chris, by the legal definitions), then you are WIDELY opening the door for people like myself and Chris and vets and rape survivors and new mothers from being able to own firearms. So no. Also, the numbers are very low, by any standards. For more information, you can get all of it here: https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/reports-and-publications/2024-active-shooter-report/view (that’s 2024, but you can look at other years, however this one was put out by Patel so I figured it was a “best representation” for conservative readers).
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This is basically the same argument as taking away the 2A rights of criminals released from jail. If we’re withholding their 2A rights because they’re THAT dangerous, why are they back on the street? If a few people (trans or otherwise) are mentally ill, then we need to deal with that. Making mental health a checkpoint for removing someone’s Constitutional RIGHTS is not the right thing.
Agree totally.
One thing to say mentally ill individuals should be denied firearms. I agree with that. But, to blanket name everyone diagnosed with a mental illness as prohibited? Not going down that slope. What comes next, the OCD individuals are prohibited? For what? Keeping their pistols in too good of a state of operation?
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I think adjudicate is the operative word there.
“EDC optic?” — not yet, sometime probably. I’m 70, and I anticipate possibly needing something before my course is through. EDC right now is a revolver. Do-able, but the path is a little different than just sending your slide off to get milled.
“18 U.S.C. §922(g)4 sez, ‘who has been adjudicated as a mental defective or who has been committed to a mental institution’ is a prohibited person.” — I’m inclined to treat very carefully through the mental illness stuff. It’s close to me in my life (immediate family). “Adjudicated mental defective”, I’m not sure what the law means by this. “Committed to a mental institution” is something I’ve watched happen a number of times. There’s a pretty high bar that needs to be met. The tripwire is “harm to self or others”, and folks get cut loose that probably shouldn’t be. I could rant at length. That said, the mental illness filter for gun ownership is something we need to be very careful with. The DSM is political, and broad enough that I suspect there’s not a person alive that wouldn’t have some diagnosis.
To your final point, if we were to use the DSM to diagnose any human alive on the planet now, they would fall somewhere on the spectrum of some mental illness. It is just being human. We call it baggage, habits, weirdness, whatever.
The question is not whether they are mentally ill, it is whether the mental illness is a danger to themselves or others.
No on the EDC optics. Too many variables, too many lighting conditions, too much chance they will not work as expected. Electronics fail, but have become a crutch you are too used to.
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If I ever need to deploy my EDC pistol, I cannot rely on anything that requires a battery, or electronics, or even good lighting conditions.