“Gun rights are not a privilege granted by the government to the “virtuous,” to be denied on whatever basis the government considers “serious.” This misunderstanding of gun rights shows a deep and dangerous misunderstanding of rights in general, and of where they come from.”
Non-violent crimes unrelated to guns shouldn’t deprive people of their right to bear arms for the rest of their lives.
That the punishment should fit the crime is a widely held axiom. If you lie on a tax return, you might expect to face certain consequences, such as fines and the repayment of back taxes, probably with interest, and perhaps even home confinement, or (in the extreme case) prison time. But you would not expect a lifetime restriction on your fundamental rights — such as the freedom to speak, to own property, or to enjoy your privacy. These punishments would be arbitrary and unjust given the nature of the crime.
Nor would you expect to permanently lose your right to own a firearm as punishment for a false statement to the IRS. But that is exactly what could happen, and what has happened, because of an unforgiving and unconstitutional federal law — passed as part of the Gun Control Act of 1968 — that automatically bans nearly all felons, even those convicted only of non-violent crimes, from ever possessing firearms for self-defense.
