Poll: Should felons be able to legally own firearms?

[Martini_Up]

Speeding on the highway or rolling through a stop sign is disregard of the law, we should all lose our rights? Which ones? Who gets to decide which rights we lose and at what threshold?

In my city a misdemeanor is enough to keep you from being allowed to carry a loaded firearm. You're ok with that I suppose because they showed disregard for the law.

And this is why I say yes, felons should have all rights.

Believe felons are too dangerous? Don't let them out.

 

[coctailer]

Everyone commits 3 felonies a day.

Maybe they should ban guns.
<broken link removed>

 

[jluck]

As dumb as this is getting we might should ban humans.:dinner:

 

[Netspirit]

The answer is yes.

Anyone who has served their time is clean. Reborn. No restrictions.

If you believe someone should never have freedom, lock them up for life.

 

[DMax]

THe majority of felon vote left so go ahead and support felons and there rights so you can vote against your self interest. Ya that will help you keep your 2A

 

[clearconscience]

How many times do you see sex offenders released when even the doctors say they are still a hazard and will reoffend let loose on the public when they have "served their time"

How many drug addicts or dealers get let out and right back into the same lifestyle.

How many gang members or general people that commit violent crimes get let out and with in a year are back in jail.

Jail is a revolving door that usually creates worse criminals

I think it does depend on the offense. Violent crime or sex crimes no you shouldn't
One of the most rare things on this earth is someone turning their life around.

One thing I can't help but mention because it's such an amazing story is of Navy Seal
Adam Brown. Crack addict, 10 time felon turned one bad muther Navy Seal.
Lost his eye and a few fingers in duty came back and learned to shoot with his opposite hand and eye and made Seal team six.
Heard that story and knew super heroes do exist.

 

[clearconscience]

Remember Navy SEAL Adam Brown | On Air Videos | Fox News

Also Adam's story was made into a book "Fearless".
This blows my opinion away, but this is not common.

 

[Nwcid]

How many times do you see sex offenders released when even the doctors say they are still a hazard and will reoffend let loose on the public when they have "served their time"

How many drug addicts or dealers get let out and right back into the same lifestyle.

How many gang members or general people that commit violent crimes get let out and with in a year are back in jail.

Jail is a revolving door that usually creates worse criminals

I think it does depend on the offense. Violent crime or sex crimes no you shouldn't

So the problem is with the system then. Not with "felons" owing guns. These people are let out who should NOT be out. That is what needs to change. As I said before the term "repeat offender" should NOT be in our vocabulary.

 

[clearconscience]

That's absolutley true. The system is broken. But in the system we have and society we have should felons have firearms, NO.

If they system was just and people were really held accouable for their crimes and they added the express line for death row without completely suspending it.

Then sure felons should have all their rights back, but you can have it on a case by case basis in this system you would have felons suing the state or feds for giving one guy his rights back and not someone else.

 

[DMax]

The majority of judges are liberal which lets the bad guys out all the time or not even takes them off the street. Ask yourself why does Holder want to give felons back voting rights. The same reason they the left wants 12million illegals here to keep the progressives in power forever. Youall think you have a fight going on now with the left and our rights you have seen nothing if all the felons and illegal get voting rights it will be lights out for all our rights and the constitution. But hey anyone on the left I would not expect you to see it this way. Go ahead start the attack and criticism of the messenger. Which will just prove my point.

 

[rkoreis]

The 2nd amendment does not have any qualifiers for gun ownership.

So what is a "well regulated militia"?

 

[billdeserthills]

So what is a "well regulated militia"?

After checking into your question I conclude as R.D.W. Connor
does, that well regulated militia means "A properly functioning Militia is necessary to the security of a free State; therefore the (pre-existing) right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed."

The entire text can be found here:
The meaning of "Well-regulated" (Larry Cipriani)

 

[Steve M]

THe majority of felon vote left so go ahead and support felons and there rights so you can vote against your self interest. Ya that will help you keep your 2A

You'll excuse me if I fight for the rights of all people and not just those I think will vote how I want them to.

 

[Swedish K]

After working for Dept. of Corrections in various capacities for 15 years I will say that the system is broken. I will also say that most people, if they know it or not, have committed at least one felony and probably numerous felonies by the time they are 21.

EXAMPLE: In most states petty theft with a prior theft related crime (shop lifting, burglary, robbery, etc.) is a felony. Remember those pens you have at home that somehow ended up there from work? have more than one? by the letter of the law that would be multiple counts and would make you a felon over items worth less than $5 combined. I'm not saying that it is likely to be charged for it but none the less a felony.

As for the system being broken, the short version is that we the people don't want to pay more in taxes to have sufficient housing to keep inmates in prison for the full term of their sentence.

I think one of the biggest problems with the prison system now days was the switch from ISL to DSL sentencing - that would be from indeterminate sentence length to determinate sentence length. Under ISL rules inmates were given an approximate term (5 to 10 years or 15 to life, etc.) and their release and conditions of release were up to the parole board. Model inmates who did not cause trouble and played by the rules while inside would be referred to the parole board for possible early release by staff/guards that interacted with them on a regular basis. Problem inmates would not get the recommendations for early release and if they were real problem kids they would get recommendations to the board not to release them. Once inmates reached their minimum term (say 5 years on a 5 to 10 year sentence) they would have a minimum of one parole board review per year. If they failed to convince the parole board that they were rehabilitated they would not get released until reaching the maximum sentence for their crime. Convincing the parole board was primarily based upon their inmate record showing that they were staying out of trouble, along with the reviews submitted by the warden, the teachers or work program supervisors, shrinks where applicable, etc. Back when ISL was the standard child molesters, rapists, and other violent acts were usually given the "to life" on their sentence and parole boards would usually look at any offenses while incarcerated as enough reason to deny and extend the next review for 2-5 years. When this was the common method employed inmates that were problems generally didn't see the outside of the fence until they were either too old to offend again or have done enough to convince everyone up the line that he has changed his way. Was this system effective? I would argue yes, not perfect but more effective than today's methods. Was it abused? also yes, in some cases. There were documented cases of huge disparity of time served for the same crime as well as personality conflicts leading to extended time served.
Over time prisons started getting overcrowded and people refused to vote for higher taxes to cover the costs of building more prisons. Even when there was funding for a new prison the NIMBY crowd fought tooth and nail against opening a prison anywhere near their community. With overcrowding came more inmate on inmate and inmate on staff violence. With the civil rights movement came a push for better inmate conditions and eventually the shift to Determinate sentence lengths. DSL is essentially a specific time to be served like 7 years. At the time it supposedly addressed the disparity in time served for inmates convicted of the same type of crime with similar conditions. In reality it removed the parole board from determining suitability for release to parole. This was the largest step in creating the "revolving door" situation we have in prisons today. Now only the ISL (to life) cases are reviewed to determine suitability for parole and the rest are automatically given parole based on time served. As populations grew, especially in the denser populated cities, crime went up and prisons continued to be overcrowded. To reduce the overcrowding again, inmates who attend classes to further their education or inmates who hold a job are given "day per day" credit, this means that every day they attend class or work a job while inside moves their parole date back a day. Now you can expect most inmates to serve roughly 60% of their sentence before being paroled and the parole will run for about 4 years if they don't violate conditions of parole or re offend. If they are perfect parolees they are often released from actual supervision and put on "paper supervision" within a couple years. Those that do violate are often given way too much slack - due to overcrowding in CA prisons inmates won't even get sent back on a 30-90 day violation for testing dirty on a drug screen - they are given 3 free passes for drug use before its even considered. To me this just teaches them that they will continue to get little more than a slap on the wrist regardless of what the rules say.


In other words I believe in most cases the following would be more ideal: If we had enough space in prisons and went back to parole boards determining suitability for parole I would be far more likely to agree with restoration of rights once they successfully completed their parole. the caveat is if you get sent back to prison a second time once parole is completed you loose your rights for good.

 

[DMax]

You'll excuse me if I fight for the rights of all people and not just those I think will vote how I want them to.

ya go ahead and vote against yourself you have that right. We have a law currently why change it who benefits.

 

[gaijinsamurai]

In Oregon, Class C Felonies (as well as Misdemeanors) can be expunged. I would like to see Class B Felonies, if not for violent offenses, included as well. When I was a Parole & Probation Officer, I had a couple of young women on my caseload who had been convicted of Delivery/Manufacture of a Controlled Substance as 18 year olds, largely due to the actions of their boyfriends or relatives, who were dealing. Both women made bad decisions, but were also bright young people, remorseful, and motivated to make something of themselves. Unfortunately, their felonies were not expungable, which will close a lot of doors of opportunity for them.

 

[GunRightsCoalition]

So the problem is with the system then. Not with "felons" owing guns. These people are let out who should NOT be out. That is what needs to change. As I said before the term "repeat offender" should NOT be in our vocabulary.

Well said. Fix the broken system. We should NEVER let someone back on the street that is too dangerous to have a firearm.

So what is a "well regulated militia"?

Go do some research my friend. Militia as used in the second amendment is not a qualifier. It is a right guaranteed to the states. If you research the history behind the second amendment you will find that they were two different amendments (Just like all of the others in the bill of rights where more than one guaranteed right is combined) that were combined in the last draft that was ratified. This was done to reduce the number of amendments which would have numbered around 30 or so if Madison had not combined them. I can provide a link that provides the history behind the bill of rights and in particular the second amendment if you like.

You'll excuse me if I fight for the rights of all people and not just those I think will vote how I want them to.

Thank You, if we truly believe in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights then we must fight to protect them even if we do not always like the way they are used. I despise those that burn the flag but I defend their right to do so.

That's absolutley true. The system is broken. But in the system we have and society we have should felons have firearms, NO.

This is an absurd notion. You cannot keep them from obtaining them no matter how many laws are enacted. The only way to keep a felon from getting a firearm is to keep them locked up and under constant supervision. This is especially true in our society where there isn't any realistic way to fully control access to firearms. Even if you were to do a total ban on them they would still emerge from garages and tool sheds as they are not rocket science. I.E. Almost anyone can build a firearm with a few tools that are readily available to anyone.

 

[LogicBomb]

every one of our founding fathers were felons...in the eyes of the British gov

 

[LogicBomb]

the problem with "revolving door" prisons is that for a lot of people its easier on the inside than its on the outside. Cable TV 3 hots and a cot, free medical, free everything. if the prison system would take a lesson from Sheriff Joe we would be saving a crapload of money

 

[Classic]

Speeding on the highway or rolling through a stop sign is disregard of the law, we should all lose our rights? Which ones? Who gets to decide which rights we lose and at what threshold?

In my city a misdemeanor is enough to keep you from being allowed to carry a loaded firearm. You're ok with that I suppose because they showed disregard for the law.

Speeding on the highway is a not a felony and neither is rolling a stop sign! Come on, we're talking a FELONY! Speeding, Jaywalking, shoplifting are NOT felonies! Armed robbery, Murder, Rape, Child molestation etc. You know, the people who when they get out of jail you don't want living next door to your wife & 5 yr old daughter. The people that make every law abiding citizen in the neighborhood go out and buy a gun and learn how to use it.
You need to move away from that city or get involved in politics and get those morons out of office!