The Patriot Post® · Due Process Lost With CA's Mental Health Laws

For some California residents, the right to bear arms will no longer rely on enumerated rights, but a fickle judicial system with a bias against firearms. On Jan. 1, the state implemented legislation giving the government the power to forcibly confiscate guns from anyone if another resident reports that the gun owner is mentally ill and could have the potential to become violent. Anyone want to bet that some people will use this legislation as a weapon to falsely accuse their personal enemies? The pretense of the law is to prevent another attack similar to the one that happened in May 2014 at the Santa Barbara campus of the University of California, when a deranged man killed six people and injured 14 others. But this legislation would not have stopped the Santa Barbara attacker, as he gave no indication until minutes before the act that he was violent, and he also hurt and killed people with a knife and a car. Yet you don’t see leftists clamoring to ban or heavily regulate those tools. The Second Amendment codified the right to keep and bear arms. Nevertheless, California just declared people they suspect of having a mental illness — a nebulous term prone to abuse — as having less rights than everybody else. How will gun ownership be protected allowed in this instance? Through a judge who only hears one side of the issue, who is more concerned about “safety” or just plain gun grabbing than upholding rights.