Should Felons Get Their Gun Rights Back?
4th May 2016
A. Barton Hinkle is full of it.
Republicans have slammed McAuliffe’s order as nothing more than political chicanery. But while they might have a point about the politics, they are wrong on principle. Having paid their debt, felons should be able to rejoin civil society as full members in good standing. As Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) put it the other day, responding to GOP critics: “The right to vote is a right. It is not a privilege.”
Huh? What DEBT? Do not be confused by the fantasy phrase ‘paid your debt to society’. There is no debt here; these people didn’t spend time in the slammer because they were ‘in debt’. They were there for a reason — what part of CONVICTED FELON does this writer not understand?
Felons can NEVER ‘rejoin society as full members in good standing’ because the presumption that applies to all other non-convict citizens, that they can be trusted out loose in society, has been convincingly refuted in the case of a CONVICTED FELON. These are people who have demonstrated THROUGH THEIR OWN ACTIONS that they think that their desires outweigh the duties imposed on them by law to NOT ROB, NOT STEAL, NOT MURDER, NOT ASSAULT, and NOT whatever else they were caught doing.
Ordinary people can be trusted to vote and carry firearms safely because the law presumes them to be safe, law-abiding citizens. That presumption does not operate with respect to CONVICTED FELONS, who have demonstrated that they can NOT be so trusted.
Prison is not a Catholic priest; it cannot absolve you from your sins once you do your penance. They lost control once, and may lose control again; the law’s job is to protect everybody and cannot just give them a do-over because it makes some people feel warm and fuzzy. Sorry, Charlie, but you don’t get to endanger my safety just because you might be feeling forgiving.