ACLU: the rule reinforced a stereotype that people with mental disabilities are violent

[TupperHappy]

10. I supported revoking the rule.

We already have judicial hearings to determine whether a person is considered mentally incompetant, and therefore should not be allowed to own guns. In these the defendant enjoys all the protections of due process, right to examine evidence and question witnesses, and the burden of proof falls on the govt. to justify revoking the right. Note that this process remains unaltered by the rule revokation.

This rule would have completely side-stepped that process, no due process, no judicial hearing. All 75K of affected folks would be lumped together with no distinction among degrees of mental handicap, and their rights revoked with the scrawl of a pen. They would have to beg and grovel before the govt. to get their rights restored after the fact. It was a horrible policy and I'm glad it's gone.