Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) hopes to stop a major defense spending bill in its tracks now that Democrats have added an amendment that allows them to take away the guns of certain military veterans.
The amendment contains language that bans gun ownership for a broad swath of veterans designated “mentally incompetent.” Coburn says the approach is sloppy, and that as of right now, “veterans who simply cannot support themselves financially” are placed under the mentally incompetent label and therefore “cannot buy or possess a firearm.”
Coburn wants the language changed so that a veteran’s case is adjudicated individually, thereby giving him or her the chance to avoid the broad label of mental incompetence when and where it doesn’t fit.
But Democrats like Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) shamelessly support the amendment, dismissing Coburn’s concerns altogether.
Said Schumer: “If you are mentally ill, whether you’re a veteran or not, just like if you’re a felon, if you’re a veteran or not, and you have been judged mentally infirm, you should not have a gun.”
Schumer has missed the point altogether or maybe he gets it, and just doesn’t care. But Coburn is not saying that the “mentally infirm” should have a gun. Rather, he’s saying the Democrats in our government are on the verge of allowing a bureaucracy to broadly and impersonally label many of our veterans mentally incompetent when they are not, thereby denying them the ability to “buy or possess a firearm.”
Think about it: These veterans are our freedom fighters. They defended our freedom with a gun in their hands. And now, in some cases, thanks to the Democrats, we are planning to reward their bravery by denying them the right to keep and bear arms here at home. Shameful.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.