VIDEO: New York Deputies Knock on Vietnam Vet’s Door, Confiscate Guns

A 70-year-old Vietnam veteran said he was watching television in his Taberg, New York, home when deputies knocked on his door, then entered and confiscated his firearms.

The veteran, Don Hall, said the deputies told him he had a record of mental issues. They took his handguns, then asked if he had long guns. They took those also.

Hall said he was in disbelief–that he tried to think back to what he could have said or done at some point in his 70 years that would have made someone think he had a mental problem. He said, “I was guilty until I could prove myself innocent. They don’t tell you why or what you supposedly did. It was just a bad screw-up”:

According to Syracuse.com, Hall hired an attorney, who advised Hall that he would have to prove that he was not the Don Hall with mental issues. In other words, he was not the Don Hall authorities were seeking. Hall “secured affidavits from local hospitals to prove he hadn’t been recently treated,” and, over a period of time, “his lawyer convinced a judge that authorities had him confused with someone else who had sought care and that his weapons should never have been seized.”

A county judge agreed that a mistake had been made and ordered the return of Hall’s firearms. They believe Hall was misidentified when someone with a similar name was reported.

Hall and his attorney blame the gun controls contained in the 2013 SAFE Act, which was passed in the wake of the heinous attack on Sandy Hook Elementary School. One of the controls in the Act was a new reporting requirement for “health providers.”

This highlights the heart of the problem with adding gun control onto gun control. The body of gun laws poses no hindrance to criminals–who ignore laws–but it does present problems for law-abiding citizens. Such laws create a scenario where a Vietnam War veteran can be sitting in his home, watching TV at 9:30 p.m., only to have sheriff’s deputies knock on the door and ask for his firearms.

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.