Boondocks No. 26

Monday, May 7, 2007

Paulin to Introduce Bill to Make Kendra's Law A Disqualifier for Firearm Ownership. Deemed a necessary technical correction to the law by some, and to others a further disenfranchisement of their basic civil liberties, Assemblywomen Paulin proposes that those ordered by a court to get mental health services be forever prohibited from owning any firearm or be guilty of a felony.

The fact is as it stands in New York and most other states, if you are deemed a mental defective or ever confined to a mental institution then your prohibited from ever owning a firearm. That stands in stark contrast to conviction of a violent crime.

However, if your convicted of a violent or non-violent felony, you always have the possibility of petitioning the parole board or the sentencing court for a restoration of rights—including the restoration of your right to own a gun.

To be sure we don't want crazies running around with guns, shooting up malls, classrooms, or for that matter random dairy farmers. But to say that people with mental illness can never be treated or ever get better is about as outdated at the 1968-era term mental defective.

Kendra's Law works. The Office of Mental Health says so. They also do a good job explaining it. There are many people who may suffer from temporary illness, and lack a social support to get them the help they need except for what our criminal justice system provides for them in a diversion.

You can argue that states have made a mockery out of the Gun Control Act of 1968—including liberal New York State. However, if we believe that former violent felons after a long enough time and proving it to a parole board, can be suitable gun owners, why not the formerly mentally ill people who have been successfully treated?

Clearly the state should not pass this law. They should instead force Congress to face up to reality and modify the Gun Control Act of 1968 to read like it exists in practice. If your convicted of a felony or are institutionalized on an outpatient or inpatient basis by order of a court and not on your own will, then you should automatically lose your gun rights.

If sometime later, you want to plead your case in front of the sentencing judge or a parole board, then so be it. Let them decide whether or not your ownership of a firearm poses a serious risk to society, or if you have fully recovered from your previous mistake. Restoration of rights should not at all be automatic, but decided by a careful process like the original denial of rights. P'Link

Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy? We over at Cowboy saw what kind of trouble Gary over at Rooster Hill Farm was getting into and had to shake our collective heads.

Now I don't think that is exactly the kind of stud you'd use for PBR. Then again, he must be as strong as hell to do that—even if the heifer is supporting a lot of his weight doing that. P'Link