Gun Law And Ptsd

[Marnie Mowles]

Here is a response that one of the PGR ( Patriot Guard Riders ) received about Gun Law and PTSD. I knew since most of y'all are combat Veterans with PTSD y'all would be very very interested.



[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']Thanks for your email. There’s been a lot of confusion about and misrepresentation of this bill, so you are not alone in wondering what exactly it does.[/font]

[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']While GOA has referred to the bill as “The Veterans Disarmament Act”, it is actually called the NICS Improvement Act. The original version had a lot of problems, but the sponsor went back to the drawing board with other members’ and input from the NRA and we actually ended up with a decent bill. [/font]

[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']The confusion is over whether veterans with PTSD would be banned from owning a gun, which is false. As with civilians, the only veterans reported to NICS due to mental health issues are those who are adjudicated as incompetent or involuntarily committed to a mental institution. Same standards for civilians and veterans. [/font]

[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']NRA supported the bill. It was signed into law on January 1, 2008. The law will actually allow some people unfairly prohibited from owning guns to have their rights restored and names removed from NICS.[/font]

[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']Let me know if I can answer any other questions. Thanks![/font]

[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']Lauren[/font]

[FONT='Garamond','serif']Lauren O'Brien[/font]
[FONT='Garamond','serif']Legislative Assistant[/font]
[FONT='Garamond','serif']Office of Congressman Geoff Davis (KY-04)[/font]
[FONT='Garamond','serif']1108 Longworth House Office Building[/font]
[FONT='Garamond','serif']Washington, DC 20515[/font]
[FONT='Garamond','serif'](202) 225-3465[/font]

[1CAVCCO15MED]

I am so damn sick and tired of nut cases that so fervently want you to believe any lie that they can think up. I contacted some of these guys about this so called "Veterans Disarmament Act". In effect here is what they told me: First they wanted to know if I was on "the list". Then they told me they read the bills for their constituency because if they read it themselves they might miss some of the "nuances" of the bill. I told them I was an American, not a peasant, and I could read bills for myself and I didn't need anybody reading anything for me, especially demagogues wanting people to send them money. I told them I didn't see any difference between them lying to vets with PTSD than spitting on them. Guys with PTSD have enough safety issues without some yahoo agitating them with lies for personal gain. http://www.gunowners.org/a010808.htm

[Doc.2/47]

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Great to hear that. Was kinda sweatin that one.

[locksly]

Now dig them guns up and oil them good.

[Marnie Mowles]

Just got this from our Congressman's office
NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007
Following lengthy negotiations, the Senate amended and passed the NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007 (H.R. 2640), as did the House, on December 19, 2007, clearing that bill for the President's signature. President Bush signed this bill into law on January 8, 2008 (P.L. 110-180). The enacted NICS amendments:
· strengthen a provision in the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (P.L. 103-159) that require federal agencies to provide, and the Attorney General to secure, any government records with information relevant to determining the eligibility of a person to receive a firearm;
· require states, as a condition of federal assistance, to make available to the Attorney General certain records that would disqualify persons from acquiring a firearm for inclusion in the FBI-administered National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), particularly those records related to convictions for misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence and persons adjudicated as mentally defective;(45)
· require states, as a condition of federal assistance, as well as federal agencies like the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), to establish administrative relief procedures under which a person who has been adjudicated mentally defective could apply to have his firearms possession and transfer eligibility restored;(46)
· authorize additional appropriations for grant programs to help states, courts, and local governments establish or improve automated record systems; and
· prohibit the FBI from collecting any fees for such background checks.
H.R. 2640 was introduced by Representative Carolyn McCarthy and co-sponsored by Representative John Dingell. As passed by the House, by a voice vote, on June 13, 2007, H.R. 2640 reportedly reflected a compromise between groups favoring and opposing greater gun control.(47) The Senate Judiciary Committee approved similar, but not identical, NICS improvement amendments as part of the School Safety and Law Enforcement Improvement Act of 2004 on August 2, 2007, and reported this bill on September 21, 2007 (S. 2084; S.Rept. 110-183).
The Senate Judiciary Committee included four other measures in S. 2084. With some modification, those measures included the School Safety Improvements Act (S. 1217), the Equity in Law Enforcement Act (S. 1448), the PRECAUTION Act (S. 1521), the Terrorist Hoax Improvements Act (S. 735), and the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act of 2007 (LEOSA, S. 376). Support for the NICS improvement and the LEOSA amendments (described below) in S. 2084 was reportedly divided and uneven, however.(48) Citing privacy and cost issues related to the NICS amendments, Senator Tom Coburn reportedly placed a hold on that legislation.(49)
In addition, some opposition to NICS improvement amendments had coalesced around an assertion made by Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America that, under these amendments, any veteran who was or had been diagnosed with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)(50) and was found to be a "danger to himself or others would have his gun rights taken away ... forever."(51) Under current law, however, any veteran or other VA beneficiary who is adjudicated or determined to be mental defective, because he poses a danger to himself or others, or is incapable of conducting his day-to-day affairs, is ineligible to possess a firearm. A diagnosis of PTSD in and of itself is not a disqualifying factor for the purposes of gun control under the proposed amendments or current law.
According to the FBI, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) began referring disqualifying records on VA beneficiaries who have been determined or adjudicated to be mental defective or mentally incompetent in November 1998, when the permant provisions of the Brady Act became effective (described above). There are currently about 110 thousand of those records in the NICS mental defective file. Under both the House-passed and Senate-reported NICS improvement amendments, VA beneficiaries who have been determined to be mental defective could appeal for administrative relief and possibly have their gun rights restored if they could demonstrate that they were no longer afflicted by a disqualifying condition. As described above, those provisions were included in P.L. 110-180.

Abra L. Belke
Staff Assistant/Legislative Correspondent
Congressman Denny Rehberg (MT- At Large)
516 Cannon HOB
Phone: 202.225.3211
Fax: 202.225.5687

[1CAVCCO15MED]

The bill says adjudicated and Pratt says adjudicated or otherwise determined. That is his lie. Now what I want is a reference to some official document that there are 110,000 PTSD veterans on a list from somewhere other than Larry Pratt and his minions. Oh yeah, I don't believe politicians who have "sources unavailable to the public".

There several veterans here with 100% disability for PTSD. Has anyone had their gun rights taken away or do they know of anyone who has? I sure haven't.