From Gateway Pundit, who quotes the reaction of Constitutional attorney Michael J Connelly, JD, originally posted to Red Flag News [emphasis in the GP excerpt]:
How would you feel if you received a letter from the U.S. Government informing you that because of a physical or mental condition that the government says you have it is proposing to rule that you are incompetent to handle your own financial affairs? Suppose that letter also stated that the government is going to appoint a stranger to handle your affairs for you at your expense? That would certainly be scary enough but it gets worse.
What if that letter also stated: “A determination of incompetency will prohibit you from purchasing, possessing, receiving, or transporting a firearm or ammunition. If you knowingly violate any of these prohibitions, you may be fined, imprisoned, or both pursuant to the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, Pub.L.No. 103-159, as implemented at 18, United States Code 924(a)(2).”?
That makes is sound like something right from a documentary on a tyrannical dictatorship somewhere in the world. Yet, as I write this I have a copy of such a letter right in front of me.
First, let me say this: I don’t find this shocking in the least. In fact, what this is is a kind of trial balloon / test run for what we can expect once “common sense” “universal background checks” tied to government-mandated databases from both the mental health professionals and, thanks to ObamaCare, the rest of your doctors, who will report your prescription drug use, are collated in order to find the “defectives”.
Having said that, there is little doubt that some vets will be mentally shattered and should probably be under psychiatric care until such time that they are ready to re-enter society safely. Even still, there will be workarounds.
The problem here, though, is one of conflation: any doubt that some bureaucratically-contrived matrix will be used to suggest that those private citizens on, say, anti-depressants, or anti-convulsives — because of the potential side-effects (like suicidal tendencies in some, mostly teens) — are to be prohibited from gun ownership as well? Or that those who’ve experienced bouts of anxiety be ruled dangers? Or that, per the NIH and DHS, those who have adopted such crazy, extremist ideas as a desire for limited government and individual autonomy aren’t deemed dangerous, fringe, and — as potential domestic terrorists — relieved of their natural rights? For the greater good?
Make no mistake: this is what unprincipled Republicans like McCain, Coburn, Cantor, and Kirk are agreeing to — regardless of what “safeguards” they pretend they’ll add to their push to give the New Left bi-partisan cover for a universal background check or magazine bans that serve to empower the police over law-abiding citizens who are, constitutionally-speaking, their equal in terms of the right to keep and bear arms — and the end game will be a winnowing down of those “permitted” by the government to exercise their natural rights.
Meaning “shall not be infringed” will have become, through legislative slight of hand and the slow erosion of the Second Amendment in the Courts, “shall not be infringed unless the government says it can and must be. For the children.”
This is who and what they are. And party doesn’t matter, clearly. The left is working through an ideological playbook that requires the citizens be at the mercy of the state’s power. And the “pragmatists” in the GOP so want to be liked and caressed by the Beltway liberal media that they are happy to surrender our rights for some positive press about how they were bravely willing to stand up to the gun lobby and vote against gun violence and for children.
They are shallow and unserious, and were it possible to recall them, that’s what I’d be working to do. As it stands, though, I’m content to simply turn their names to expletives, and stand back and allow them to help finish off the GOP establishment once and for all.
Per military blog, This Ain’t Hell, this isn’t as big an issue as it seems.
False claims of mental illness seems to be a favored way for tyrants to deal with dissidents or anyone they don’t like whenever just shooting them is inconvenient. That’s what the old USSR did, but since the proletariat had no rights that could be taken away, the KGB had to lock them up in asylums. Once the Democrats and the Republican establishment succeed in the destruction of the Constitution, that’s what they’ll have to do here. Only problem is, the liberals long ago closed down all the asylums, so a stimulus package will be required to build new ones.
If anyone here wants a heads up about what Obamacare is ultimately about, visit a VA hospital. They are our version of the NHS and just as scandal-driven. Suspicious deaths and neglect are the order of the day.
One of the problems of sickness is the problem of health. Health, we take it, is a natural condition. But when nature has be denatured? Health begins to look a little different, doesn’t it?
“been” denatured. Apologies.
I can’t speak for the rest of the country but i don know that the VA systems in Atlanta and Jacksonville do a fine job. I’m a customer.
I know little but the obvious when it comes to mental illness, summed up with; there are indeed crazy fuckers out there the sane person would be best served to recognize, and those officially doing the recognizing are given the potential, by the inherent arbitrary nature of the job, of doing great abuse.
That sniper fellow that was murdered was an example of how taking a mentally unstable person to the gun range (as well as the Sandy Hook shooter, perhaps) isn’t necessarily a good idea. The Progressive’s reaction to the shootings, if not exactly mentally unstable then at least intellectually unstable, should give us pause on any new legalize they want to add to existing law for determining their power over individual rights.
John’s first comment sent my blood pressure down (thanks!), but not my guard.
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The VA hospitals in Tennessee were subject to an intense investigation by the CDC a few years back for not properly sterilizing their instruments and equipment. In particular, plastic apparatus used for breathing treatments were not properly cared for. Dialysis machines were not properly maintained. At least two men contracted the AIDS virus through negligence on the part of the staff and their failure to follow procedures.
BT, my uncle (WWII vet) was also a patient at the VA hospital in Fresno and he had decent outcomes considering he was a non-compliant SOB. may he rest in peace.
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I’m not disputing that a system as large as the VA has some failings. What i am saying is the difference between service in the 70’s and now is remarkable. Back then you were a number, now you are a patient, and i appreciate the effort that went into improving customer care.
this is a very good reason to not join the military I think
Is also (another) reason the draft is coming back.
BT, I am also in the VA system. Dorn VA hospital has been very good to me. But I know Veterans who travel out of their way to go to Oteen in Asheville, NC or down to Augusta, GA to avoid going to Atlanta VA and the Dorn center in Columbia, SC.
I do know that the VA hospitals have been doing a lot of construction upgrades to all of their hospitals.
Happy, depending on your healthcare plan, you aren’t made to use VA hospitals. For instance, my husband has both Tricare and Medicare. He’s gold-plated as far as any hospital goes and so are most guys who were career military.
My uncle I referred to above, was in for one hitch and used the heck out of the VA hospitals until he finally passed away in the late 90s.
still it seems smarter to fly as far under the radar as possible in this era of ascendant fascism
The Indians have been getting free gubmint healthcare for a long time, and the joke goes that you shouldn’t get sick after June.
.…the police over law-abiding citizens who are, constitutionally-speaking, their equal in terms of the right to keep and bear arms…
Was there even such a catagory as ‘police’ back in the late 18th century? It seems to be a construct necessary for urban populations, not to an agrarian society of Jefferson’s fantasies. Anyone here knowledgable in social history of the Revolutionary/Fedealist times?
“this is a very good reason to not join the military I think”
“still it seems smarter to fly as far under the radar as possible in this era of ascendant fascism”
Just so we’re clear on this. EVERYTHING costs something, (first law of thermodynamics), and this is a by-product of the cost for you to shoot of your mouth without having to worry about whose boot will be on your neck, next.
I am not at all surprised that you think a carrer in the military is a bad idea. You should, however, at least recognise the wellfont from which your “Rights” spring.
“My uncle I referred to above, was in for one hitch and used the heck out of the VA hospitals until he finally passed away in the late 90s.”
Good on him.
it’s not just the military Mr. Gulermo… to place oneself in the service of a fascist enterprise like America in any capacity is fraught with all sorts of tricksy ethical dilemmas I think, and, of course, you’re much more susceptible to getting caught up in one or several of their fascist whimsies
when you’re on the payroll
“fascist enterprise like America”
Produced you, didn’t it?
Not by that name perhaps but by function there were “police.”
As they say down South: “Come mierda y muero.”
Usually hyphenated with gunfire. Sadly so, you are protected by those you hate.
proggtardia spreads
Oregon Democrats Push Legislation to Ban Guns and Search Homes Without Warrants
Cupcakes for ACTION-AGAINST-GUN-VIOLENCE!!!
[…] […]
et tu cupcakes?
did moochelle approve those cakes?
et em all
I only et one. It was reddish velvet.
Mike G. Thank you for your service.
I guess the best i can say about the VA hospital in Atlanta and staff in Jacksonville is I wouldn’t be sharing these pearls of wisdom on this board today without them, so i may appear a bit biased in favor of them.
– Then again it will be interesting to see how the Hollywood Progressive script department handles these inconvieniant truths that pop up from time to time, or as the hippies say, reality bites.
There also can come a point where the boots that used to protect you are now the ones on your neck.
Not to disparage all the honorable soldiers who have and are serving, but I share some of happyfeets fear of things to come.
Is Hickenlooper backing away from the cliff?
GUN CONTROL BACKTRACK: As Salazar Fallout Mushrooms, Hick Expresses Doubt About High Capacity Magazine Ban
I
blamecredit Jeff.And the armadillo.
I think it might make more sense for the governor to shut the fuck up for a bit.
“protect you are now the ones on your neck”
Doubtful, at best.
“Not to disparage all the honorable soldiers who have and are serving”
Not to put to fine a point to it, but you just did.
“happyfeets fear of things to come.”
He ain’t a’feared. Ask him. He’s pissed that he won’t be riding it to the bottom.
It’s an honor and a privilege to have a Command. One that isn’t granted to many.
I did nothing of the sort. If you can’t read argue with someone else.
“There also can come a point where the boots that used to protect you are now the ones on your neck.”
Hypothetical or rhetorical?
For your statement to come to fruition that would necessitate a complete constitutional collapse.
“If you can’t read argue with someone else.”
I didn’t know your nom de guere was happyfeet.
“Our original proposal was that we get to kill you and sell your wife and kids into slavery. After intense negotiations we, in our magnanimity, agreed to only break your legs and rape your wife and kids while you watched. Next year we will come back with another proposal and of course will allow you to find a compromise solution with us.”
Compromise, Democrat style.
No. All it would take, and has taken in the past, is for the Commander in Chief to declare you a threat to the Union and your ass is the enemy.
Read some history.
…the Commander in Chief to declare you a threat to the Union and your ass is the enemy.
Ima add “more ammo” to my shopping list today.
I was thinking of asking Joe Biden what shotgun load he recommends for taking out drones.
And your point…?
Joe’s advice may be suspect, BMoe. He was recommending firing both barrels as ‘warning shots’, in the city limits.
Telling his own wife to commit a felony and leaving her having to reload? He may not be your go-to guy.
He’d have her trapped on a balcony with no spare ammo since he didn’t say to grab some, just the shotgun, which is apparently left loaded and out in the open at his home which may still be a felony in DC where he lives, Delaware too most likely.
“Read some history.”
I have and lived my share.
“No. All it would take, and has taken in the past, is for the Commander in Chief to declare you a threat to the Union and your ass is the enemy.”
On a whim? Because he says so? I didn’t think so, but you go girl!
“And your point…?”
My intial point was made to one feets. Evidently feets is a canary in the coal mine for bmoe.
What do you care? I was assured you have it under control.
BT, thank you for your service also. I wasn’t disparaging the Atlanta VA as I’ve never been there. I was just relating what other veterans had told me.
Truth be told, although I live in SC and use the VA in Columbia, the hospital in Oteen is closer to me time wise. Two hour drive as opposed to a three hour drive to Columbia. And Atlanta is about three hours away as well. I used to live in Atlanta and as is often the case, the VA hospitals aren’t always in the best section of town.
Was there even such a catagory as ‘police’ back in the late 18th century?
U.S. Marshals Service, constituted September 24, 1789.
I’m not sure complete constitutional collapse is entirely out of the question if things continue on their present course.
Assured by whom? I may not think total collapse is inevitable, but we wouldn’t be the first country it ever happened to.
The Marshals Service aren’t police, properly understood. They served in that capacity sometimes in territories, but their intended function in 1789 was as federal process servers.
Strictly speaking, the feds have no police powers in the states. They seem to exercise such powers anyway — apropos the subject of complete constitutional collapse…
I am wondering how much farther the Constitution is going to have to collapse before people get curious about what all that shit is they keep tripping over.
McGehee, my (admittedly sketchy) knowledge was that anyone may be deputized by the Sheriff if he needs bodies. I don’t know if that includes marshals who are kind of their own thing. The Feds can sweep in and claim jurisdiction if a federal crime has occurred, such as a kidnapping. Murder is not a federal crime and they must butt out, under normal circumstances that don’t include the murder of a federal employee or a kidnapping.
See my 5:31 pm.
The FBI is the federal agency that has general investigative jurisdiction in federal cases; U.S. Marshals these days aren’t really investigators except in particular types of cases, much the same as DEA, or Immigration, or BIA on Indian reservations…
In my opinion only the Marshals should have the power of arrest for federal crimes, even if other agencies develop the evidence. Without national police power, by rights federal arrests should only occur with a warrant.
There were constables in towns and cities before the Revolution; I imagine they and county sheriffs had the power to deputize as needed all along, a variation on the principle of the militia.
I wonder how much mischief could have been made if standing armies had been expressly prohibited in the Constitution, and professional police forces considered standing armies.
“No. All it would take, and has taken in the past, is for the Commander in Chief to declare you a threat to the Union and your ass is the enemy.”
Beemoe,
I think you are forgetting a couple of elements.
1. A complicit Congress
and
2. A Military without conscience
The Mai Lai massacre is discussed at almost every level of PME in the military. I wouldn’t recommend giving a gun and an unlawful order to someone in the Military.
We already have 1. We are already using drones on citizens.
I trust the conscience of most of you guys, but some are going to follow orders no matter how questionable.
I am just saying it has happened before, it can happen again.
nobody but nobody wants the fucking drama
cept for the bamawhores
and there’s more than a couple bamawhores in the military
that’s just plain statistics
It’s sorta amazing how people don’t realize the consequences of poisoning the well if they happen to agree with this or that random sentiment expressed in the present moment.
some people are easily amazed i guess
That’s some next level humor right there.
come for the next level humor, stay for the shrimp n grits
damn that’s good eatin
why do you think they call this stuff absinthe anyway?
it’s right here
I tried some of that shit once, tasted like cheap after shave.
Somebody said pour it over a sugar cube, so I did.
It tasted like sweet, cheap after shave.
it tastes like a cloying licorice-flavored ice cream topping
but they don’t give you no ice creams
bastards
cloyfoot.
It fits.