Friday, September 17, 2010
Gun rights for felons.
The second amendment of the United States' constitution in the section of the United States Bill of Rights, adopted on December 15, 1791 states that it is the right for all American citizen to bear arms. That is the legal right of every american citizen. In fact, this is the way our forfathers have put it: " A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."
However, Federal law prohibates anyone convicted of a crime punishable by a year or more of imprisonment to possess, handle and even transport a firearm. This provision of the law; 18 U.S.C. 922(g) strictly prohibates any felon to own a firearm in and/or outside his/ her residence.
To that provision, are some exceptions.
I think in my opinion that non violent offenders should not have their second amendment right stripped away from them. We live in the United State, where there is a gun on almost every block, legaly or not. Therefor, I believe non vio;ent offenders should keep the right to bear arms after paying their debt to our dear society.
I also believe that the provision is broad and overly narrow:
I will say that because, the general proscription of the section 922(g) is not limited to just felons; by its trems, the provision forbides not jsut felons but anyone convicted of a crime punishable by an imprisonment for a term exceeding one year to own a firearm or ammunition whether the crime is a felony or not. Also section 921(a)(20)(B) limits the impact of this provision on misdemeanors by defining the punishment.
In fact let's not forget that the 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(20)(A) expressly exempts certain white collar felonies such as antitrust or unfair trade practices.
In my opinion, this second amendment provision should be revised and the interpretation change.
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I have to say that I do and don't agree with this blog. I am not in any way trying to be offend your opinion or AWESOME research you did on this topic but my basic feeling is, the criminal non violent or not shouldn't have committed whatever crime it was and this privilege would not have been taken away from them. Have their right to bear arms taken away is part of the way it works when you do something that is violent or not violent, it is still against the law.
ReplyDeleteI am going to have to second Emily on this one. Part of the deal in maintaining one's Constitutional Rights is following the laws of the very same county that Constitution also protects. Yes, the Constitution protects the citizens but also our Country as a whole and although I fully support the rights of the people to keep and bear arms, I too feel that if you violate the laws, you should expect to lose some of those rights. Maybe it is applied unevenly as you suggested regarding the different types of crimes but how much information are we supposed to have to check when doing background checks. If the check comes back with a felony conviction, doesn't that place an undue burden in having to determine if that felony conviction was one that was nonviolent or did not include weapons charges, etc? JMHO
ReplyDeleteI am with the others on this. Criminals lose certain rights when they violate the laws of this country. This is one of the consequences for their actions. I am sure there is a high percentage of criminals that once they have committed a felony that they are likely to commit another crime. Do we really want to take that chance on somebody? The really bad thing that I am realizing lately about criminals with a felony charge is that when they get out of prison they have no jobs avaialble to them. Now this is not right. We need to have some type of rehabilitation jobs that they can prove theirselves at and work back into the mainstream workforce. Now this is a problem and something that should never be taken away just because you made a mistake--your right to provide for yourself and your family.
ReplyDeleteHey, I do not agree with this blog but I do however; agree with you Emily. This blog does not understand that in Tennesse we have enough crime in our city as a whole.If you give them a second chance to maybe kill someone the next time is just stupidity. Sometimes you have to try and put your foot in their shoes but mine want fit. Regargless of how the blog may put it, if you do the crime you will do the time. If you already have a felony that tells me that you do not value your life because most people who have felonies tend to keep getting into trouble over and over again. However; if you were caught up in a situation, then; I have sympathy but you have to work on being in a positive environment because guns are no joke and need's to be dealt with accordlingly.
ReplyDeleteHey this is for Honei. Honei Tennessee does have a place where Felon's can go to a second chance program. There are some felonies that will get out jail and surround themselves with positive people's and a positive environment. Some felonies get out of jail and go right back to jail, and the first thing they say is "mane I can't get no job cause I got a felony" when all the time they have never got adopted back into society. Honei you have to remember that felonies serve at least 1-5 years in jail and they have to make positive moves or the first thing they do is go back to jail and blame it on the rest of society for their mistakes but tey never blame themselves.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on this topic. I beleive that if a convicted felon has paid their debt to society then the punishment should stop. I am a citizen who obeys the laws and haven't committed any crimes, however my fiance has. Because he is a convicted felon he can't be around any firearms, and this effects me also. I can't have a gun in our home because he can't be around any firearms. If the police were to ever come to my home and find I have a gun even though I have a license to have a gun they would immediately take him to jail because he's a convicted felon. I feel that this is unfair and affects my chance of protecting my family if I need to.
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