Login
FAQ
Search
~ SoozIn most states, ex-convicts have to wait years after their release to have their voting rights restored, and many are disenfranchised for life. Yet they often have their right to bear arms automatically reinstated when they leave prison, with little or no review by judges. A New York Times examination reveals that the gun lobby and their Republican allies have successfully eliminated hearings and common-sense restrictions on ex-cons' ability to immediately reclaim their guns, with deadly consequences:
Under federal law, people with felony convictions forfeit their right to bear arms. Yet every year, thousands of felons across the country have those rights reinstated, often with little or no review. In several states, they include people convicted of violent crimes, including first-degree murder and manslaughter, an examination by The New York Times has found.
While previously a small number of felons were able to reclaim their gun rights, the process became commonplace in many states in the late 1980s, after Congress started allowing state laws to dictate these reinstatements — part of an overhaul of federal gun laws orchestrated by the National Rifle Association. [...]
This gradual pulling back of what many Americans have unquestioningly assumed was a blanket prohibition has drawn relatively little public notice. Indeed, state law enforcement agencies have scant information, if any, on which felons are getting their gun rights back, let alone how many have gone on to commit new crimes.
The NRA's “restoration movementâ€
