The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution of these here United States of America clearly states that the government cannot infringe on a citizen’s right to keep and bear arms. Apparently, this has not stopped federal agencies from treating this mandate as a mere guideline rather than hard and fast law.
A recent report revealed that the FBI and Secret Service covertly coerced a number of Americans into surrendering their Second Amendment rights. The means by which they did so should terrify, and infuriate, anyone who values the right to be armed.
The Washington Examiner reports:
Between 2011 and 2019, the FBI, Secret Service, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement coordinated to obtain signatures on an internal form from at least 60 U.S. citizens that stripped their gun rights, according to newly obtained records and multiple Washington Examiner reports. In at least one instance, the bureau and Secret Service worked behind closed doors with what appears to be a government prosecutor who conditioned signing of the form as part of a legal case, the Washington Examiner has learned.
A letter sent by an attorney to a Secret Service agent in 2019 informed the official that they “will find enclosed the NICS firearm form which has been signed by my client and his doctor…in compliance with [redacted] plea agreement.”
The report notes that it is not clear what the defendant had been charged with, and the FBI redacted the case number. The forms were obtained by gun rights advocacy group Gun Owners of America (GOA) through the Freedom of Information Act.
It is also unclear why the agency required this form, which registers individuals into the Bureau’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). It asked defendants to acknowledge that they are a “danger” to themselves or others, and that they lack the “mental capacity adequately to contract” their lives.
However, according to GOA outside counsel Robert Olson, citizens cannot forfeit their right to bear arms. From the Washington Examiner:
The person who signed the plea agreement was evidently not barred from owning guns until voluntarily signing the FBI’s form and the government asked the defendant to agree to a punishment comparable with a different type of crime, said Olson. Lawyers have previously honed in on how the form did not go through public comment through the Office of Management and Budget, which is required before the government collects information from the public.
Gilbert Ambler, a constitutional attorney told the news outlet that the government is “having you agree you’re incompetent” and questioned how this could be legally binding.
“It’s an example of something more nefarious, which is individuals within the government pursuing a goal of disarming people. That is not something supported by our legislature. In fact, it is contrary to what our legislature has done because there are set forth conditions on when somebody can be disarmed,” Ambler said.
The Gun Control Act of 1968 established that a person could be prohibited from owning guns if they are “adjudicated as a mental defective or has been committed to a mental institution,” but says nothing about people being able to voluntarily give up their Second Amendment rights.
This development comes on the heels of a previous report from the Washington Examiner revealing that between 2016 and 2019, the FBI “presented forms to U.S. citizens at their homes and in other undisclosed locations that registered them with the bureau’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System.”
“The very existence of the FBI’s forms has raised significant concerns among First Amendment lawyers and members of Congress, including Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH), and Reps. Dan Bishop (R-NC) and Andrew Clyde (R-GA),” the report noted.
The report indicates that about 60 people were subjected to this treatment, but that there could easily be more such cases.
This is apparently a bipartisan issue since the Bureau engaged in these activities under both Democratic and Republican presidents. In what appears to be a flagrant violation of the Constitution, federal agencies have been pushing individuals to give up their Second Amendment rights – and they did so in the shadows.
This is yet another development showing how little our federal government thinks of our natural rights and its duty to protect them. By covertly pressing people to sacrifice their right to be armed, they are systematically seeking to disarm as many Americans as possible. This is not the only step the executive branch has taken toward this purpose.
In 2022, it was revealed that the Bureau for Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) is terminating gun dealers’ licenses for silly clerical errors on paperwork. President Biden has been unable to enact his radical anti-gun agenda through Congress, so he is trying to do so through executive means. He recently signed an executive order expanding background checks and red flag laws.
These people are not going to give up. The reality is that they do want to take your guns, and are willing to flout the Constitution to achieve this end.