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As a disabled veteran myself, this is a bloody outrage.
By de Andréa,
Opinion Editorialist
for ‘THE BOTTOM LINE’:
Published June
7, 2015
People who live with veterans are now being ordered not to possess
a gun, and some veterans are told they can “buy back” their Second Amendment
rights by giving up their veterans’ benefits.
What?????
“This is simply unbelievable, On
the one hand the [Veterans Administration] and the FBI have found some veterans
to be mentally ill and too dangerous to be allowed to own firearms, while on
the other hand [they are] allowing these allegedly dangerous people to buy
their firearms rights back,” wrote
“This is illegal and is called extortion.”
A legal team investigating the Obama administration’s order that
certain American military veterans deemed “incompetent” by the VA, to give up
their weapons say the problem is worse than first reported.
The veterans were sent a letter illegally telling them they were
being classified as incompetent and the government was assigning someone to
help them handle their benefits and payments.
Consequently, they were told, they could no longer own weapons,
under penalty of fines and jail time.
The problem was that the veterans were being determined guilty
without a hearing regarding the potential loss of their constitutional rights,
USJF said at the time.
The Obama administration
insisted it was routine for officials to send out letters informing veterans
that an unidentified “report” indicated they may be declared incompetent and
consequently stripped of their Second Amendment rights.
It’s the same administration
that in 2009 warned that “returning veterans that possess combat
skills and experience are rightwing extremists.”
The 2009 report from the Department of Homeland Security was
called “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling
Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment.” It also said Obama’s
governmental managers were “concerned that rightwing extremists will
attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to boost their
violent capabilities.”
So when hundreds, perhaps thousands, of veterans began receiving letters
like the one dispatched from the Portland, Oregon, office of the Department of
Veterans Affairs, alarm bells went off.
In the recent report, Connelly explained he’s uncovered so far “a
coordinated effort by multiple federal agencies to disarm the American people.”
He cited the tactic of sending letters to veterans about being
appointed a “fiduciary” and the resulting loss of constitutional rights.
“As we have gotten more aggressive in representing individual
veterans to defend their constitutional rights the VA has adopted additional
tactics against our American heroes,” the report said. “Some veterans have never gotten any letter
or official notification from the VA. They find out they are on the NCIS list
[of people banned from having weapons] when they try to purchase a firearm.”
“Often they can’t even find out why they are on the list.”
Or veterans are told they are incompetent and can appeal the
decision.
“But [they] are being told that if they do defy the government and
appeal, their benefit payments can be suspended for the duration of the appeal,
which can drag on for years,” the report said.
“The families of veterans are also [being] told that since they
live with a veteran who has been declared incompetent they can’t own or
purchase firearms.”
“Or there’s that option to give up benefits,” the report said.
And it’s expanding. Seniors on Medicare, some dental patients and
even children seeing pediatricians have been questioned about firearm
ownership.
Medical records are being passed from the Department of Health and
Human Services to the FBI “of anyone who has ever told their physician
they were feeling depressed, even if never treated, and anyone who has taken
certain drugs for things like PTSD, ADD, or ADHD, among others.”
And, the report said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
is adding regulations that ban from owning weapons anyone who ever was “examined
by a psychiatrist or psychologist,” a routine part of many family court
cases.
“What is next? Will you have to surrender your firearms to keep
your Social Security, or to stay on Medicare? Will you have to certify that
neither you nor any of you[r] employees own firearms in order to get a contract
with the federal government?”
The door to the dispute opened when USJF received a copy of a
letter to a veteran from the Portland VA Medical Center several years ago.
The letter warned the vet that “evidence indicates that you are
not able to handle your VA benefit payments because of a physical or mental
condition.”
“We propose to rate you incompetent for VA purposes. This means we
must decide if you are able to handle your VA benefit payments. We will base
our decision on all the evidence we already have including any other evidence
you sent to us.”
The VA also warned: “A determination of incompetency will
prohibit you from purchasing, possessing, receiving, or transporting a firearm
or ammunition. If you knowingly violate any of these prohibitions, you may be
fined, imprisoned, or both.”
The letter was signed by K. Kalama, Veterans Service Center
manager in the Oregon Department of Veterans Affairs. But it didn’t present the
“evidence,” the source of the evidence or why the veteran’s competency even was
questioned.
The Department of Veterans Affairs, and spokesman Randy Noller
responded with a statement that the letters were no more than routine. But
questions about why the letters are being sent, what evidence is used to
determine a veteran is incapable of managing his or her affairs, who provides
that information and why it is provided remain unanswered.
“The Department of Veterans Affairs’ policy to inform veterans of
their rights regarding the Brady Act has not changed,” the statement said. “As
has been policy for multiple administrations, VA acts in accordance with
federal law and works with the Department of Justice to properly maintain the
NCIS database. VA notifies any veteran who may be deemed by VA to be mentally
incapable of managing his or her own funds of the opportunity to contest this
determination and also to seek relief from the reporting requirements under the
Brady Act, as required by law.”
Also unanswered was who makes the decision to put in motion the
department’s decision to “deem” veterans “mentally incapable.”
Connelly noted the letter “provides no specifics on the reasons for
the proposed finding of incompetency; just that is based on a determination by
someone in the VA.”
“In every state in the
United States no one can be declared incompetent to administer their own
affairs without due process of law and that usually requires a judicial hearing
with evidence being offered to prove to a judge that the person is indeed
incompetent,”
he explained.
“This is a requirement of
the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that states that no person shall
‘be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.”
THE BOTTOM LINE: Shucks, according to this
information, it is saying that I’ will lose my VA benefits or I will lose my
rights. What is wrong with this picture? A Veteran is willing to sacrifice his life to
protect the rights of citizens and then loses his own rights in the process.
What I’ see here is that this Muslim President that has been
elected by a blind, deceived and willfully ignorant people can’t disarm the
nation legally so he has chosen to do it any way he can. Come to think of it that’s what tyrants do.
I remember someone that did the very same thing in the
1930’s, I think his initials were A.H.
Thanks for listening – de Andréa
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