I should restate my feelings on this. I said “probably a good idea in the right hands”, but who is to say who is the right hands. I know of several judges in my area that are complete idiots who I would not trust for one second. I know some politicians, police officers, others in higher ranking positions who can’t be trusted. This law states only family, roommates, or police can petition the court. How many here can say that an ex-spouse can be an “ honest” witness here. A roommate? If I kick out a roommate for any reason, this sounds like the perfect way to retaliate.
If I happen to have a “rough patch” in my life, feel a bit down, and go to see my family doctor who then gives me an antidepressant, does this then give the police a reason to say I am unstable an take away my guns?
But I also see as in this case stated in the original article, if a person is “way over the edge”, some one must step in somewhere and do something. But who, what, when, where, and why...I’m not so sure how to answer that. I had a brother in law who took a lot of drugs. The had a fender bender and had a head injury. I’m not sure which put him over the edge, but he then went ape shit crazy. He wanted to shoot any police officer he saw. Wanted to kill lots of things, he even put his daughters kitten in a can with a lid on it so it wouldn’t run away from him. He forgot about it and it then died. He was just nuts. What did I do...nothing. Luckily he didn’t hurt any people, but if he had, I never would have been able to forgive myself.
This is a slippery slope here people, and a damn steep one at that. I don’t know the answer. But there are people right now in DC trying their damn best to find a way to protect me from myself. That an American citizen cannot be trusted with a gun.
When I was in my late teens, I thought people with assault rifles were the crazies. That all “survivalists” as they were called back then were idiots. Nothing is ever going happen where you will need an AR or high caliber weapon. That maybe only the police should need a pistol. But with a few more decades under my belt, I now see how wrong I was. I don’t currently own a AK or an AR, but only because I can’t shoot in a straight line around my home more than 50 yds without hitting a tree.