Prison inmates[/caption]Carol Forsloff — "I'm an ex-convict and ex-felon and I own more guns and ammunition then most of all you legal gun owners in the United States." This post is on the first page of Google on felons and gun rights on January 13, 2013. The problem is he is not alone.
Ex-convicts can't vote, but they can own guns. Some people might find that surprising. After all, many people agree that mentally unhealthy people should not own guns. Yet what is an ex-convict in relationship to the issue of violence, especially when many crimes are committed with guns.
The New York Times points out that ex-felons have little difficulty legally owning a gun. That is in spite of the fact that most Americans believe that those with a criminal history should not. The Times article examines the case of a man in Washington State, Erik Zettergren, who shot and killed a man who was in bed with Zegttergren's girlfriend. He had two previous felony convictions and a record of mental health problems, yet was able to legally purchase a gun, which he used in the fatal shooting.
As the Times observes, federal law prohibits those who have been convicted of felonies lose their right to bear arms. Yet annually thousands of ex-convicts get their rights reinstated, and often with minimum review. Much of this is because the rights to reinstatement are examined by judges and relegated to the states to make a decision. Many of these individuals use the Second Amendment clause of the Constitution as justification for the reinstatement of their gun rights.
The Times examined the laws in the several states and found that in many states ex-felons have little difficulty getting their gun rights restored. The publication discusses the work of Margaret C. Love, a pardon lawyer based in Washington, D.C., who has found in her research of gun rights restoration laws, that in more than half the states, felons have a reasonably likely chance of getting back their gun rights. Numerous examples are then used to illustrate cases where those with a history of violence, and consequently prison time, have no problems getting guns.
Gun rights advocates often justify ex-convicts getting their gun rights back by statements like those of Ken Hanson, legislative chairman of the Buckeye Firearms Coalition,. He said,“If it’s a constitutional right, you treat it with equal dignity with other rights,” he said.
Daniel Webster, a professor and the co-director at the Center for Gun Policy and Research at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, offers this opinion:
"Given the prior data on the enormous social costs of gun violence in the U.S. ($100 billion a year, by one estimate), criminal recidivism, and public opinion, people convicted of nonviolent felonies should be eligible for review of their fitness to possess firearms only after a substantial period of crime-free living (like 10 years), including no history of restraining orders for domestic violence. The review should also involve an in-depth examination of the individual’s mental health and history of substance abuse."
It's interesting to note that some of the petitions circulating social media for support of second amendment rights following the school shooting in Connecticut, are being promoted by ex-convicts, many of whom may have little knowledge of the foundations of the second amendment or the statistics on recidivism rates and levels of domestic abuse that often ensues following periods of incarceration.
The anonymous poster who bragged about his gun rights as an ex-felon wrote the following on December 14, 2012, after the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
"Whne all your guns are taken away. I'll still have mine. You'll still be able to vote but what good will that do when the elections are rigged anyways. Your life is a shame. How much protection do you need that you hand all your freedoms the to a machine that sees all of us as the enemy."
Webster's final argument in Time's opinion column is this: "Few felons should have guns. "
I heard a lot of x military personal that get out of there and can't find a job resort to selling guns. When I think of these sort of things it reminds me of that movie " American Gangster". Its like if it is not drugs and guns its sex slave trade.
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