this post was submitted on 12 Jun 2024
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[–] Wrench 7 points 5 months ago (2 children)

I think that Hunter was only prosecuted for this crime because of who his father is. A real witch hunt. But at the same time, I'm not losing any sleep over it. He broke the law, and he's someone with a lot of resources at his disposal and should have known better.

As for the law itself, I think the law should exist, but the potential punishment of 25 years is absurd.

I do think that keeping guns out of easy, legal, access of active drug abusers is appropriate. But as you say, without a conviction, the scope of those restrictions should be narrow and appeal-able.

And the punishment for being untruthful on a checkbox of an application should be a slap on the wrist. Confiscation of the firearm(s), and maybe community service. It should be the governments job to do proper screening, not the applicants job to screen themselves out.

But like I said before, I'm not going to lose any sleep over this, even if I do think it's an unfair punishment for an arbitrarily enforced law, on someone targeted by a cult simply because of his family.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

I do think that keeping guns out of easy, legal, access of active drug abusers is appropriate. But as you say, without a conviction, the scope of those restrictions should be narrow and appeal-able.

Considering that the form 4473 that you have to sign to purchase a firearm makes no mention of alcohol, I think this is hypocritical, at best. What's the difference between alcoholics owning a firearm, and heroin addicts owning a firearm? All I know is that I would be way less worried about the junkie gun owner than a raging alcoholic gun owner.

Its a dumb law, that was probably spawned from racism. Nobody should have their gun rights removed if they did not do or threaten anything violent.

[–] Wrench 5 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

I mean, I'd like guns to be inaccessible (legally) to raging alcoholics too. You're right that a crackhead and alcoholic can both be very destructive. But that doesn't mean I want crackheads to have guns just because an alcoholic without a felony can own one.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

That's fair and reasonable. I just think that the fact that alcohol use is so common, it makes it very unfair to pick on other drug users as if they are somehow worse or more prone to violence than alcoholics are.

I don't think drug use by itself should be enough to take away your gun rights, personally. I do believe mental health reasons are acceptable, though, and if the drug a person is using is making them mentally unstable, then that should be the main reason their gun rights are removed.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I absolutely disagree with keeping guns away from drug users (edit: for using drugs alone). Almost every American has a drug addiction, to caffeine at a minimum. Drugs can be safely handled as well as firearms. I believe that courses should be required that include training on proper safety and storage of firearms before purchase though, which should include warning about handling a firearm while intoxicated.

I was drinking with friends one time a while ago and one of my close friends, who's in the navy, had his handgun with him. He didn't see an issue with getting drunk with his gun on him. Luckily we all convinced him to put it aside somewhere safe until he's sober, which he argued about but conceded. Why is it legal to use alcohol and have a firearm (and be in the military even) but not something like pot?

You should be considered for losing access to a firearm upon abusing that right by endangering someone or mishandling one. You shouldn't lose it because the government decided to target a certain segment of society to disarm.