Comment Re:The liberal gun blinders (Score 1) 138
Please sign my petition to restore gun-ownership to convicted felons and the mentally ill.
Conviction of a cime historically is a basis for suspending the rights of the offender. First of all, the offender usually loses his right to freedom, since he gets locked up. At this point, he usually loses his right to vote too. Upon release, many rights are still restricted, such as freedom of movement while on parole. Voting and gun rights can remain restricted.
However, there certainly should be a mechanism to proclaim someone rehabilitated and regain his voting and gun rights. Once off probation, voting rights shouldn't be affected anymore. I know someone who as a dumb young man was convicted in the 1960s and lost his gun rights. He's pushing 70 now, and is a danger to no one, yet he can't buy a gun.
Mental illness is definitely another issue though. However, it has been long accepted that a narrowly tailored law that is the least restrictive means to address a definite issue can survive even strict scrutiny when it comes to restricting a constitutional right. So someone who has been declared a danger by a competent medical professional could be denied possession of guns, subject to the ability of that person to appeal, to be examined by alternate medical professionals, and to have regular reviews of his status. You'll have a hard time finding a pro-gun person who disagrees with this.
Or my other initiative, which seeks to relieve the financial pressures that de facto restrict low-income citizens from gun ownership by providing a means-tested system of subsidies to ensure that self defense is accessible to all
We shouldn't fund people for transportation to voting places, we shouldn't fund them to acquire guns, we shouldn't give them free printing presses. It's a right you have -- it doesn't have to be provided for you. However, it should be unconstitutional for the government to make firearms more expensive than necessary, or to ban less expensive firearms so that the poor can afford them. The government has done both.