Today we’re going to talk about something that many people have very mixed feelings about: whether people who have lost their Second Amendment rights should be able to get them back.
Now, even in the pro-gun world, there are two ways that most people think about this subject.
One way is the Second Amendment absolutist viewpoint that says that no one should ever be prevented from being able to legally acquire (as in not stealing it) and own firearms.
These folks aren’t concerned about people who would misuse their firearms because people who choose to do stupid things tend to win stupid prizes, and people who would use firearms in an evil way will tend to be on the receiving end of that, too.
Even Jesus talked about this principle in Matthew 26:52 in a situation when one of the disciples attacked a man. The Prepared Gun Owners paraphrase of this verse says, “‘Put your gun back in its place,’ Jesus said to him, ‘for all who draw the gun will die by the gun.'”
Okay, Jesus actually said sword, not gun, but the weapon idea is the same. Anyways…
The other viewpoint on people getting back their gun rights is the “it depends” viewpoint. People having this viewpoint tend to first ask why that person lost their gun rights. If the reason was a past history of violent crime, they would argue that, maybe, that person still shouldn’t have legal access to guns (as if they wouldn’t still be able to get one on the black market).
But if they lost their gun rights due to a non-violent felony, then, maybe, they should be allowed to get them back.
Trump’s Department of Justice seems to have decided to go with this latter line of thinking. Tom Gantert writes,
The Justice Department announced on Aug. 17 a new process that will allow eligible individuals prohibited from possessing firearms to apply to have their federal gun rights restored.
Attorney General Todd Blanche finalized a federal regulation establishing the process, which the department stated could provide a pathway to restoration for millions of Americans.
“The Second Amendment is not a second-class right, and the federal government should not permanently deprive Americans of a constitutional right without regard to whether they pose a danger to public safety,” Blanche said in a statement.
U.S. Pardon Attorney Edward Martin said the program would provide a pathway for the 30 million Americans who have lost their Second Amendment rights to apply for their restoration.
Now, whichever of the two viewpoints that I mentioned earlier that you take on restoration of gun rights, this is a move in the right direction.
And 30 million people is around nine percent of the entire U.S. population.
That’s a lot of people who could get their legal gun rights back.
So, if you fall into the non-violent felon category, it may be worth looking into this for yourself so that you, too, can legally own and carry a firearm again.
