A Moral Dilemma
(2000 words)
Conviction on a felony is generally a sign of poor judgement. Significantly poor judgement that punishment by the State is warranted. What that tells me is the person convicted of a felony is… well… not exactly going to be a responsible and law abiding gun owner.
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But… there are so many exceptions to that rule that it cannot really be called a rule. Non-violent felonies, drug addicts that have been clean for year, etc… etc… etc… is it appropriate to institute a lifetime ban on gun ownership because of stupid actions taken years ago? Is there a human alive that did not do stupid crap as a teen?
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If you have a rap sheet as “long as your arm.” I kind of think you should be barred from legally purchasing a gun. On the other hand, if you have a single conviction, I am going to say… it depends.
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While I would very much like to see all restrictive gun control laws stricken from the books, I would be quite happy to see some of them loosened up a bit, and if it starts by re-defining what constitutes a prohibited person, I say good!
— CBMTTek
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But… there are so many exceptions to that rule that it cannot really be called a rule. Non-violent felonies, drug addicts that have been clean for year, etc… etc… etc… is it appropriate to institute a lifetime ban on gun ownership because of stupid actions taken years ago? Is there a human alive that did not do stupid crap as a teen?
.
If you have a rap sheet as “long as your arm.” I kind of think you should be barred from legally purchasing a gun. On the other hand, if you have a single conviction, I am going to say… it depends.
.
While I would very much like to see all restrictive gun control laws stricken from the books, I would be quite happy to see some of them loosened up a bit, and if it starts by re-defining what constitutes a prohibited person, I say good!
— CBMTTek
Unfortunately, Criminal Recidivism is a real thing. Like the majority re-offend.
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I have no problem with granting civil rights back to felons and criminals after they have served their time, including any parole or probation, and several years have elapsed. Start with voting rights after say two years? Gun rights after five?
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One exception should be repeat offenders. Maybe the answer is they can only apply for restoration of rights once? Or maybe the second time is only after 10 or 20 years of crime free life.
— rd
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I have no problem with granting civil rights back to felons and criminals after they have served their time, including any parole or probation, and several years have elapsed. Start with voting rights after say two years? Gun rights after five?
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One exception should be repeat offenders. Maybe the answer is they can only apply for restoration of rights once? Or maybe the second time is only after 10 or 20 years of crime free life.
— rd
For a long time, I attempted to split the baby. I wanted our Second Amendment protected rights to be free from infringement. At the same time, I could see that there were certain common-sense restrictions on certain people owning guns.
My ability to accept “common-sense gun restrictions” evaporated when the term “common-sense” was usurped by the gun control extremists.
It then became, “Gun control means being able to hit your target, every time.”
At this point in my life, I’m a Second Amendment absolutists. “What part of ‘shall not infringe’ don’t you understand?”
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