Veterans having their guns taken away
If this story about the VA and Homeland Security denying veterans concealed handgun permits is true, it is very disturbing.
The first two questions seem like absurd reasons for losing a permit. Even the third seems problematic. There is a big difference between feeling like harming someone and actually thinking about doing it.
Now it appears as if local media around the country are reporting on examples of other reasons that veterans are having their guns taken away.
Last month, at my VA med visit ,they asked me exactly the same questions [posed to a friend] and I asked them why they never asked them before and their answer was that it is a new policy that they must ask all vets!
From a Vietnam Vet and retired Police Officer:
I had a Doctor’s appointment at the local VA clinic yesterday and found out something very interesting that I would like to pass along. While going through triage before seeing the doctor, I was asked at the end of the exam, three questions:
1. Did I feel stressed?
2. Did I feel threatened?
3. Did I feel like doing harm to someone?
The nurse then informed me, that if I had answered ‘yes’ to any of the questions, I would have lost my concealed carry permit as it would have gone into my medical records and the VA would have reported it to Homeland Security.
The first two questions seem like absurd reasons for losing a permit. Even the third seems problematic. There is a big difference between feeling like harming someone and actually thinking about doing it.
Now it appears as if local media around the country are reporting on examples of other reasons that veterans are having their guns taken away.
Sgt. Wayne Irelan re-enlisted in the Army National Guard after September 11th.
He was severely injured in Iraq and awarded the Purple Heart. But now his second amendment rights have been taken away.
"I really feel betrayed," Sgt. Irelan told 5NEWS.
A year ago the Irelan's began receiving a small stipend from Veterans Affairs because Lana had to take over the family's finances.
"How many husbands do you know in America that pay the bills? There's not very many," Lana Irelan told 5NEWS.
The V.A. declared Wayne Irelan incompetent and now his right to own a gun is gone.
"It's wrong. Laws need to be changed. They need to look at individuals and not stereotype them as some sort of mad man," Sgt. Irelan said.
Irelan has post traumatic stress disorder from the Iraq war, but his wife says he has never been violent. Lana Irelan told 5NEWS his diagnosis is not a legitimate reason for his gun rights to be taken away.
"I was there when they gave him his purple heart for fighting for that right to bear arms, and they are stripping it away," Lana said, her eyes tearing up.
The couple didn't know Wayne's gun rights had been terminated until they went to get a gun out of pawn. Days later Wayne got a letter from the Arkansas State Police saying his concealed carry permit had been revoked. The ATF has told the Irelans that they could go to jail if a firearm is found in their home. . . .
Labels: GunControl, SecondAmendment
posted by John Lott at 1:53 PM
4 Comments:
This is very disturbing and yet, given the proclivities of the current administration, not surprising.
Deprived of a Constitutional right with no due process. Is that legal? Sounds like a lawsuit.
The unquestionable political correctness of their Marxist gun control agenda fills the left with a sense of serene and transcendental self-righteousness that gives them a feeling of a smooth path into the totalitarian future that they envision for us. However, the courts may not agree that's it's just fine to strip people of a constitutional right merely because they said"yes" when asked if they were "stressed".
It wouldn’t be the first time that the left was trumped by a reality they refuse to recognize. Despite the McDonald decision, and the mouthing of vague support for the 2nd Amendment, the political left still does not acknowledge any meaningful right to keep and bear arms, and continues to operate as if there was none. There is no restriction that they view as inconsistent with McDonald - they can still find ways to rationalize any restriction, just as they‘ve been doing for years. They’ll have to be reined in by the courts, or perhaps a Republican Congress.
After the mess that the Obama administration has made of the economy by spending the country into gross indebtedness in the midst of a recession when we can least afford it, these days, any thinking American would have to be "stressed".
This is tied to HR327 and it was not passed by this administration but by the Bush administration. Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) held up passing this bill for this reason alone. If a disabled veteran was not able to take care of their own finances, somehow that translated into them not being responsible enough to own a gun either. Read the bill.
Administration News | Bush Signs Suicide Prevention Bill for Veterans
[Nov 06, 2007]
President Bush on Monday signed into law a veterans' suicide prevention bill (HR 327) that will require mental health training for Department of Veterans Affairs staff, mental health screenings for all veterans who receive VA care and a suicide counselor for each VA health care facility, the AP/Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports. The law also supports outreach and education efforts for veterans and their families, as well as peer support counseling and suicide prevention research (AP/Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 11/5).
Counseling
In related news, the Washington Post on Tuesday profiled Give an Hour, a not-for-profit group of psychologists, social workers and other counselors from 40 states and Washington, D.C., that provides no-cost counseling for soldiers, their families and unmarried partners. According to Barbara Romberg, a district clinical psychologist who launched the group, the goal of the organization is to supplement services offered by the Department of Defense and VA because the departments do not offer counseling to the families of servicemembers. Many relatives of servicemembers may be reluctant to seek mental health care because of financial reasons or concerns that seeking counseling could jeopardize their family member's military career, according to the Post. Under the program, volunteers provide free-of-charge counseling one hour per week for a minimum of one year. The program currently has more than 720 volunteers providing services to about 50 clients (Boodman, Washington Post, 11/6).
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=48687
I do presentations on PTSD but when I talked to a lot of veterans after this bill was passed, they asked more about losing their guns than they did about PTSD. Congress thought that this was a good idea, but it ended up keeping a lot of veterans from seeking help because they didn't want to lose their guns. I guess they just didn't figure out that it was better to have a PTSD veteran in treatment with a gun than have one with a gun and no treatment at all.
Why are they denying people who willing lay there life so that we can continue to enjoy the freedom air we enjoy today.
I found this article about how we can support the heroism of our country's veteran, we should all do our part to support them. This article Support Our Troops!, I am a proud owner of this shirt actually I purchase three. With that purchase I hope that I have helped those who are injured in a fight for my freedom. Thanks.
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