In the last few decades, there has been a dramatic rise in the number of people convicted of felonies and denied various civil rights (including gun rights). That is a problem for society.
Millions of Americans who have served their time (or never served any time in jail or prison as they received probation) are prohibited from possessing firearms. This situation can be easily visualized on the second page of this study [PDF]. The majority of those individuals are not convicted of a crime that remotely suggests they are a danger to society if they are allowed to possess a gun.
I won’t rehash my previous arguments against a total ban on gun ownership for those convicted of felonies, as those arguments can be read here and here. Instead, my purpose here is to shed some light on how that situation adversely affects the law-abiding gun owners in America and our gun rights as a whole.
The Second Amendment is a constitutional right that is constantly under attack. Many of the people who so strongly opposed to gun ownership take that position out of ignorance and fear, which is a result of not having any experience with guns and gun ownership. Indeed, I myself did not support gun rights until I was in law school – and might never have even thought to learn about guns, then become a gun owner, then become a gun rights advocate had I not worked at a company where the owner was a firearms enthusiast. Growing up, I was not exposed to guns in a positive light, and so I was slightly anti-gun essentially by default. Thankfully, that changed.
Each time a person is barred from gun ownership by a minor criminal conviction, there is a ripple effect. That person will be prevented from owning guns themselves, and that may reduce or discourage gun ownership on the part of their significant other. That may in turn reduce their children or other relatives exposure to guns in a positive setting, creating an effect that ripples through generations of people. The net result can be a single felony conviction preventing dozens of people from being exposed to lawful gun ownership, who then buy the anti-gun messages in the media. When those dozens of people take to the poling place, we end up with anti-gun politicians who threaten the gun rights of all Americans.
Criminal justice reform is sorely needed in the US. We incarcerate more people than any other country in the word, despite our population being rather small in the grand scheme of things. For every person we as a country send to prison, many more are stripped of their civil rights (including gun ownership). That situation will not be sustainable in the long run.
To be sure, I am not suggesting that those convicted of violent crimes should be let off with a slap on the wrist and no affect upon their ability to lawfully own a gun. Serious crimes should be punished in a serious manner. However, a person who possessed a small amount of drugs when they were a teenager should not be forever barred from lawful gun ownership. Nor should a person who committed theft as a teenager. Indeed, such a ban only affects the people who were not going to misuse a gun in the first place, and does nothing to stop the violent criminals who ignore gun control laws.
I agree with your position! Self defence is a natural right or God given right! Noone should have the power to render another human being defenseless!
First off a person could be tried and convicted of a crime they didn’t commit. Or a felony conviction for a non violent crime, but even now the left wingers are trying to confiscate guns without any due process, what about innocent until proven guilty! I’ve seen first hand, that in a contentious divorce, all a wife has to do is make an unsubstantiated accusation of physical abuse and boom the husband looses his 2nd amendment rights and the guns are confiscated without any due process!
Look at all the vets, ~ 175,000 who have lost their 2nd amendment rights, because they want mental health support from the VA crooks!
Also like in my case here in New York I have no criminal record at all, not even a misdermeanor, but Suffolk county won’t issue my pistol permit, I’ve been denied twice. It’s simple gun control is not about guns, it’s about Control! Far left wing communist totalitarian control!
Amen! The assault on our gun rights is continuous. The plan is to whittle away little by little as the anti-gun movement knows that an outright ban will not fly. Have you been keeping up with the newest proposal by the Social Security Administration to limit gun rights? I have a post about it on my blog.
I live in ms and was raised on firearms. Ive always owned several i was convicted over three years agoon less than one teenth of a gram of meth thats barely even dust in a bag i had no prior convictions and i cant even own a gun to protect my wife and girls its just seems really hrsh for someone who made one small mistake when i even completed a year of alcohol and drug rehabilitation in the penetentry and i am still paying with my second amendment rights .