The New York Times has recently published some disconcerting findings about gun rights for convicted felons in different states following Congress’s decision in the 1980s to allow states to regulate the reinstatement of the right to bear arms.
Under federal law, those convicted of a felony automatically forfeit their right to bear arms, but as a result of the advocacy of the National Rifle Association, states are now allowing felons to buy guns with very little review or background check. The decision to reinstate a felon’s gun rights is generally up to judges, but the standards are often vague, according to the investigative reporting of the Times.
People are often prone to blaming gun shops for sale to less-than-qualified customers, but gun shops only sell within the parameters of a state’s requirements. In this case, the legislature is at fault. According to The Times, in many states, even those with a history of mental illness on top of felony convictions can still obtain firearms, a problem which should be rectified by stricter and more specific regulation from state legislatures.
Additionally, there is no way for these gun shops to know that these customers have mental health issues or committed violent crimes in the past. If some sort of system were to be implemented by which the shops would have access to thorough background checks for each customer, they would be much more able to determine when it is appropriate to sell someone a firearm without fear of repercussion.
Many proponents of Second Amendment rights seem to be in favor of a blanket permit, but cases such as that of Erik Zettergren just go to show that this is a much more complicated issue that just that of constitutionality. Zettergren, then 36-years-old with a history of mental problems, shot a man at point-blank range with a firearm he obtained after being convicted of two felonies. If the judges would have been able to implement stricter gun regulations, especially on a case-by-case basis, this may have never happened.
It may also seem easy to blame the judges in this case, but the fault there ultimately lies with the Supreme Court, as it is their duty to tell the lower courts how they should regulate our legal system. The Supreme Court should establish and clarify regulations and stipulations for gun rights reinstatement after felony conviction to ensure that the lower courts can act competently and prevent unnecessary bodily harm.
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
