What wasn’t included was where DOJ gets the authority to create a permanent entry to NICS without a conviction or other disqualifier as defined by law. They’re still not saying. [More]
Try stonewalling when they want information and see where that gets you.
Business as usual, sandbag, stonewall, deceive, divert or just ignore FOIA ‘requests’.
Hell, I can’t even get what should be public info regarding contracts, support docs and comms between and among erected officials concerning said contracts from my city hall without paying up big $$$ for their time and effort. And then likely getting a bunch of blacked out pages.
FOIA was never about disseminating information to the proles.
I’m of mixed mind about this.
If mental illness or disability is an issue, there are already laws addressing this situation. The problem is that the courts & states seldom apply or enforce enforce these laws. In fact, fully half the states refuse to file findings of mental illness and/or disability with NICS. This is how Virginia Tech happened.
While the law certainly makes no provision for someone requesting to be a prohibited person, I see little harm in allegedly responsible adults requesting that they, themselves, be permanently added to the prohibited persons list. One might make the case signing such a request is indeed evidence of mental illness or mental disability.
There need to be safeguards to prevent people from falsely filing such requests for other people. Caregivers have legal options. They do not need to commit fraud to accomplish this.
Another safeguard is that such a request shall not be used to reduce criminal charges. This could be a truly dangerous cudgel to hand to prosecutors.
The form should include fingerprints and pictures along with certification by the local police department or identification agency that they witnessed this person sign the form. The form should also require the signer to acknowledge that they understand that if they are found in possession of firearms and/or ammunition, they are committing a felony and will be prosecuted.
Would any responsible adult sign such a form? I certainly wouldn’t. One could certainly make the case that doing so is evidence of mental deficiency. The best part is that we can dare gun control advocates to live up to the standards that they want everyone else to live up to and file this form. “You don’t really believe in gun control. You haven’t filed a prohibited persons request.” or “You filed a prohibited person request. What kind of moron are you?”
No. If Big Gun Control wants this, I feel we should give it to them; good & hard. Congress amends the law and the President signs it.
The point is there is no legal authority to do this. If the government wants to apply a mental disqualification it’s up to them to follow the law, not take an unauthorized shortcut for convenience. It’s SUPPOSED to be difficult. And as we’ve seen with every other “gun control” law, that won’t stop bad actors from getting guns, and it is not to our advantage to perpetuate the destructive illusion that they do.
I agree with you. While the DOJ may claim that there is justification for their actions, it would be better if Congress passed the legislation to allow this.
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Personally, I’d like to NICS go away and a publicly available BIDS system in its place, administered by the credit reporting agencies. Rather than calling the feds, a smartphone app can say if your a prohibited person. Records of prohibited persons should include fingerprints, photos and the source of the prohibition.
Actually, I don’t think Congress has the delegated power to infringe either, and that anyone who cannot be trusted with as gun (proven with full due process) cannot be trusted without a custodian. As for the BIDS prior restraint, it is most useful in exposing the prohibitionists aren’t REALLY after “background checks” but in establishing a confiscation tool.