TexasCHLforum.com

You have to keep in mind that a pawn ticket can be traded or sold. The person redeeming the pawn may not be the person who pawned the item.

This is the law and has been for at least 15 years (I don't keep track of these things). You can write to your congressman about changing it. I don't see any groundswell of demand to change this particular law.

- Jim

puma guy wrote:This is a little off topic, but having never pawned a weapon is it a requirement to do a background check to take the weapon out of pawn?

Yes, redeeming a pawned firearm is the same as buying one from scratch, with respect to the Form 4473 and NICS check.

http://www.atf.gov/firearms/faq/brady-l ... redemption" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

- Jim

The article said he was not competent to manage his finances. I doubt any more specific information will be made public.

- Jim

Charles, I appreciate your work, and you know that I have supported the NRA and TSRA at almost every turn. I understand that neither organization can do everything that every member would like, never mind the critics who are not members.

It just seems a shame that this guy is left hanging. Maybe that's the way it has to be, given the laws and regulations and the facts of his case.

- Jim

I can't answer whether you were right or wrong.

I got that e-mail, and I get similar ones all the time. If I believed every one and tried to investigate it I could do nothing else.

I looked on the GAO web site to see if I could find something more credible. I couldn't.

- Jim

I don't know. It could be anything from requesting congressional investigations to filing a lawsuit.

The SAF seems to be suing everyone left and right. They file a lawsuit against a government entity every couple of weeks. I realize they are not very effective, but that's what they do.

- Jim

Ha! Senators and Congressmen would not want to be seen at government-operated hospitals.

While many VA and military hospitals are excellent, many have problems and most are somewhat run-down and subject to long waiting lines.

chartreuse wrote:... does anybody know whether Patrick Kennedy still has a CHL?

I never knew whether he had one in the first place.

Massachusetts requires a permit to buy or own a handgun. That permit also allows the owner to transport the weapon to the range or hunting. It's not really what we think of as a CHL.

The real deal is much more difficult to obtain.

I don't know whether Kennedy was found guilty of DWI or got off. If he did not commit a criminal offense, probably it would not have affected his license, if he has one.

The Kennedys are treated like royalty in Massachusetts anyway.

- Jim

Government employees in general, including elected officials, are not treated by physicians employed by the government. They have insurance plans, just like most private employees, and are seen by private physicians and hospitals.

The VA and military have government-employed physicians and government-operated hospitals.

As far as I know, only the President and Vice President are seen at military hospitals (Walter Reed, usually).

- Jim

People in all walks of life get PTSD from all kinds of events such as car wrecks and natural disasters.

The problem here is that a mechanism is in place for some PTSD diagnoses at the VA to into NICS automatically. In civilian life, including the police, the patient would have to be found likely to harm to himself or others or incompetent through a legal process.

- Jim

The government isn't some monolithic organization. Various departments can hardly work together when they want to.

PTSD is not simply depression. PTSD may involve depression, anxiety, violent and suicidal impulses, flashbacks, psychosis, and other features.

- Jim

Dr. John Lott is on this story. I just couldn't find the link earlier:
http://johnrlott.blogspot.com/2010/09/v ... -away.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This leads to H.R.327, the Joshua Omvig Veterans Suicide Prevention Act, which President Bush signed into law in 2007 as Public Law 110–110.

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/110-h327/show" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

- Jim

snorri wrote:If he self-confessed to being incompetent to handle his own affairs, to get some money, he has himself to blame.

I think it is logically impossible to make an effective admission of mental incompetence.

- Jim

ELB wrote:Right now I think there is equal liklihood that a) there is a malevolent attempt by Holder's Justice Department to brand returning military as nuts and trample on their rights by querying the VA for info on who has been treated (versus who has been "adjudicated);...

There are supposed to be firewalls to prevent this sort of thing. Medical diagnosis and treatment per se are supposed to be confidential. Either revealing the information or digging it out without proper authority is a serious offense.

Not that federal officials haven't committed serious offenses before. But usually they do it for personal or political gain, not ideology.

- Jim

nitrogen wrote:My guess is that he was invoulntarily committed to a hospital due to his PTSD, ...

Involuntary commitment is a dangerous standard.

Many of not most states allow a short involuntary commitment, similar to be arrested. That's what generally happens to people who are found walking around half-dressed and unable to respond to questions, and that sort of situation.

- Jim

ELB wrote:Now if the story is at all correct (big "if") he apparently convinced the VA to award him a service-connect based on some kind of mental incompetence, so much so that his wife had to handle everything. Did this trigger an adjudication that hasn't come to light yet?

It seems to me he could have been declared disabled and qualify for financial assistance without being found incompetent.

There are plenty of people who have emotional problems or brain damage who are not legally incompetent. Findings of legal incompetence are quite rare.

Would there not have to be some kind of hearing before a medical board or judge?

I also don't know why the NRA, SAF, or some other RKBA organization isn't all over this. Granted the story came out last week.

- Jim