Steven Hopler of Rockaway Township won court permission to own firearms in 1994. At the time, the court accepted the argument that Hopler was a collector and that his blindness should not prevent him from his hobby.
Guess what? I have a problem with blind people owning guns. I'm sure the pro-gun crowd supports this, but in order to do so, they must overlook the obvious problems with it. In effect, those who support this are as blind as those who benefit from it, if you can call it a benefit.
Here's why it's wrong.
Some 16 years later, it seems clear Hopler's hobby has not gone well. He accidentally shot himself in the shin in 2008, and when police responded, they found multiple loaded guns strewn around the house. Later, his home was burglarized and Hopler's stolen guns were purchased by undercover detectives on the street. Last December, a man committed suicide with a gun that Hopler once owned.
The Morris County Prosecutor's Office wants to prevent Hopler from ever owning guns again. That decision will be made by Judge Thomas A. Manahan.
Wait, I know. The gun owners will sacrifice this particular guy by saying his poor gun handling was not necessarily due to his blindness and therefore he should be restricted, but other blind gun owners should not be.
What's your opinion? Should blind people be allowed to own guns? What about other handicapped folks, for example, MS people or palsy victims, the ones who shake uncontrollably? Should they use guns? How about Alzheimer's sufferers?
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
"Wait, I know. The gun owners will sacrifice this particular guy by saying his poor gun handling was not necessarily due to his blindness and therefore he should be restricted, but other blind gun owners should not be."
ReplyDeleteSounds like you already know the right answer.
As a paraplegic, I'm not going to take kindly to being told that my Constitutionally guaranteed, fundamental human rights can be canceled due to disability.
ReplyDeleteAs a neurologically-impaired bad writer, I'm not going to take kindly to being told that my Constitutionally guaranteed, fundamental right to endanger myself and the general public can be canceled due to disability.
ReplyDeleteFixed it for you.
I am curious, though. What does it mean you won't "take kindly"? Are you going to pitch a hissy fit?
--JadeGold
Kurt, no one is saying the right should be removed for ANY disability. Why is everything so black and white with you. Do you have no line beyond which a person should not be allowed a gun other than the ability to live unassisted?
ReplyDeleteBlind people need assistance. Do we deny them? What about other severely handicapped people?
How about the gun owner who gets cancer? During treatment and decline, when going into the hospice for the last weeks or months, should he continue to exercise his "rights?"
During treatment and decline, when going into the hospice for the last weeks or months, should he continue to exercise his "rights?"
ReplyDeletePart of the problem here is that we're talking about two different things, it seems to me. I've made no comment on whether or not someone should exercise his rights--that's not my call (if it were the call of anyone but the person in question, it wouldn't be a matter of rights, but one of privileges).
My objection is to any kind of coercive mandate, prohibiting exercise of rights--which, as I said, would cease to be rights, if they're subject to revocation for physical ailments.
This would seem to be pretty straightforward. We wouldn't let a blind person drive either. I see a distinct difference between gun ownership and the distinctive problems of blindness, or because of suffering from dementia, severely impaired mental capacity, or some other disability or illness which would directly affect the safety aspects of owning or using firearms.
ReplyDeleteNot all disabilities would do that equally, and should not be treated as the same. The disabilities in question are not interchangeable.
That doesn't diminish rights.
Let me add that I would not have the same reservations about gun ownership, for example, by a deaf person that I do about gun ownership by a blind person.
ReplyDeleteThanks dog gone, It's stories like this one that separate the extremists from the normal folks.
ReplyDelete