Good for him. These laws are just excuses to confiscate as many firearms as possible; there’s no real interest by liberals in looking at each case individually, and in this case it’s once again the incompetence of the bloated bureaucracy that targets someone for no reason.
A decorated retired New York cop who served in the U.S. Navy is challenging New York’s tough new SAFE Act gun control law, claiming in a lawsuit that his guns were confiscated after he was mistakenly diagnosed as mentally unstable after he sought treatment for a sleeping problem.
Donald Montgomery’s lawsuit contends that Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other state officials violated his Second Amendment rights when his guns were seized after a brief hospital stay for insomnia. Montgomery, a cop for 30 years and a U.S. Navy veteran, brought the lawsuit in Rochester Federal Court on Dec. 17, according to the Daily Caller.
The SAFE Act became law with little public debate after Cuomo convinced lawmakers that New York needed to do something after the mass shooting at the Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Conn.
Montgomery was the owner of four guns — a Colt .38 handgun, a Derringer .38, a Glock 26 9-mm. and a Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 380.
His troubles started when he visited a Long Island hospital in May complaining of insomnia. He was discharged with a diagnosis of “depression, insomnia” and then returned a short time later for a 48-hour stay. The lawsuit says that during that visit, staff erroneously listed him as an “involuntary admission,” triggering the SAFE Act reporting provision. Those deemed at-risk for owning guns by mental health professionals have to be reported and their names entered into a database.
In all seriousness, these days I would hesitate to seek medical assistance for any ailment that might be interpreted (“liberally” interpreted, I might say) to be a factor that marks me as psychologically or biologically unreliable. From the correspondence I’ve received from my insurer (accompanying the various Obamacare-mandated rate hikes), I’ve gotten the impression that Obamacare altered my coverage to (among other things) “liberalize” my access to psychiatric/psychological assistance. Like the rest of you, of course, I’m desperately in need of therapy, but I don’t seek it because I learned early on that practitioners of these dark arts (with the sole exception of our dear Shifra) are themselves far crazier than I’ll ever be. So I figure I’m beyond therapy, but I’d better keep this off the record, lest the Feds breeze in and force me to racially integrate my cache of white phosphorous.
For further reading, I recommend this novel. (Warning: You will puke.)
Did I open this screed with the introductory phrase, “In all seriousness…”? Yes, I see I did, but somehow I lost the serious thread. Or maybe I asserted my thesis in my own special way, because the world is too screwy and painful to observe with naked eye, so I instinctively reach for my funhouse mirror. But the serious point is, yeah, in marginal cases, it’s better to suffer or seek off-the-record treatment, rather than get some things on the record.
Hmmm, I seem to recall those old-school pro-choice advocates trumpeting something about the right to privacy. Funny how times change.
I agree Maynard. In fact, there are thousands of vets, and mostly older retired Vietnam vets, who have been diagnosed for PTSD, often decades ago; including yours truly. Many of us are very nervous that one day these VA records could be shared with the states and a confiscation order released. I am fortunate to be in a state where the 2ned Amendment is very strong, but I have a lot of friends who live in those states where the state administration would like nothing better than to have another gun grab excuse.
I’m flashing back to the bad old Soviet Onion, where some dissidents were dealt with by putting them in insane asylums. Because when you’re in sole possession of the truth, anyone that doesn’t see it your way is mentally incompetent, and must be treated as such. Don’t you agree, comrade?
I’m awed by Maynard’s perception of the metal health condition of many mental health professionals outside of NYC. It’s something that a lot of us have witnessed, prompting (not begging) the question: “Is psychiatric illness a contagious illness?”
A quotable quote of Karl Kraus
Some others:
Right to privacy has been redefined by liberals. Used to mean privacy from all prying eyes, but now means privacy only from public dissemination which excludes privacy from gov’t. Obama who had 2 sealed court records opened just because he was in a campaign and ‘the public had a right to know’, and while he doesn’t release any records of his or Michelle’s, is a Constitutional Lawyer on all this (sarc off). Speaking of pro-choice privacy, I bet ObamaCare somehow excludes abortions from being reported in the new electronic medical records system. That would be claimed under privacy while all other medical procedures including psychological examination/diagnosis won’t have the same ‘right to privacy’.
I see you’re all learning. As in the old movie “War Games” stated, the only way to win is not to play.
The VA has an active incompetency rule on the books that says they can seize all benefits and do whatever they want with them and they will take all firearms that the veteran has. If the veteran is ruled to be incompetent he or she loses all rights. I called the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) and they agreed with this rule. What can you say?