Even if you think felons should lose their gun rights when they commit a crime, it shouldn't be a stretch to believe that there should be a process for them to get their rights back. In theory, there has been for decades. The anti-gun Left just kept it defunded so no one could take advantage of it. So much for the "we respect the Second Amendment" bit, eh?
Now, there's a process, and it's not subject to the same shenanigans as the old system.
US Pardon Attorney Ed Martin has thoughts about it, and I think we should all hear them and agree.
U.S. Pardon Attorney Ed Martin on Monday praised a new Justice Department process allowing certain people barred from possessing guns to seek restoration of their Second Amendment rights, describing the move on Newsmax as "very American."
Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed a rule earlier that day establishing a case-by-case process for people prohibited from possessing firearms to apply to have their federal gun rights restored.
The program revives a path that has effectively been unavailable to individuals for more than three decades because Congress has barred the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives from using appropriated funds to process their applications.
"We're implementing a law that says, if you lost your Second Amendment rights, you should be able to petition to get it back," Martin told "Ed Henry The Big Take."
Martin stressed that restoration would not be automatic and said violent offenders should not expect to regain their rights.
"If you commit a violent crime, you're not going to get your Second Amendment rights back," Martin said. "I mean, especially with a gun."
The new Department of Justice program will consider applications individually, taking into account public safety and an applicant's history. People convicted of violent crimes, sex offenses, or terrorism-related offenses are among those generally ineligible absent extraordinary circumstances.
But is Martin right that it's "very American" to restore rights?
Obviously, I think so, but not because I'm pro-gun.
It's because America has always been the land of redemption. We've always allowed convicted felons to achieve great heights. Tim Allen has a drug trafficking conviction. Mark Wahlberg and Danny Trejo are beloved actors; both are violent felons. Music legend Chuck Berry had an armed robbery rap before he ever recorded Johnny B. Goode. David Dahl of Dave's Killer Bread did multiple stints in prison for drug-related charges.
Tons of people have screwed up royally, done their time, then made something of themselves. That's just America for you.
And gun rights are very much a part of the fabric of America, too. It's in the Second Amendment, and nothing in there says that the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed...unless you did time for ripping a tag off a mattress or something. It's one thing to use due process to strip the rights from someone who committed a crime, but they shouldn't all be forced to pay for the rest of their lives for a one-time mistake.
Not only is Martin right about it being "very American," I'd go so far as to argue that not restoring gun rights is downright un-American.
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