-By Warner Todd Huston
We all know that Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr. is a huge anti-gun activist. It is also public knowledge in Illinois that he is a holder of an Illinois Firearms Owner ID (a FOID card). This state-issued ID that allows Illinois residents to legally purchase firearms and ammunition is supposed to be revoked for people that have been admitted to a mental health facility. So, will the state revoke Jackson’s FOID card?
Rep. Jackson was admitted to a mental health facility last month claiming “exhaustion” but it has since been learned he suffers from a more serious mental condition such as depression. His own wife said that he’s been “completely debilitated by depression.”
In fact, on August 13 it was reported that Jackson is suffering from a bipolar disorder.”
Now, many anti-gun, anti-Constitution activists like Jackson are fond of saying that mental patients should have all their rights to self protection instantly removed once they are identified with any sort of disorder. The Brady Campaign against guns, for one, has since it began said that anyone with a mental problem should be prevented from access to guns.
The relevant portion of the state FOID law is section 8 and 8E:
Sec. 8. The Department of State Police has authority to deny an application for or to revoke and seize a Firearm Owner’s Identification Card previously issued under this Act only if the Department finds that the applicant or the person to whom such card was issued is or was at the time of issuance:
(e) A person who has been a patient of a mental institution within the past 5 years or has been adjudicated as a mental defective;
So, the big question is, will there be calls from the left to have Jackson’s rights to his firearms removed in accordance both with the law in his state and city but in accordance to his left-wing ideals?
(H/T Days of our Trailers blog)
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, RightPundits.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.
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