Opinion
W Springfield, Virginia –-(Ammoland.com)-Gun Owners of America have uncovered a form that the FBI uses for people to permanently add themselves to the prohibited person list in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).
The FBI document that is entitled, “NICS Indices Self-Submission Form,” allows Americans to “voluntarily” waive their Second Amendment right to bear arms. Once the person submits the form, they cannot get their rights back.
The waiver of rights states, “I may not be permitted to withdraw my name and information in the future.”
NICS Indices Self-Submission Form
The person filling out the form has to choose between reasons. The first choice is that they are a danger to themselves or others. The Second item that they can check states that the person in question lacks mental capacity adequately to contract or manage the details of their life.”
The first option is reminiscent of the language used in the so-called “Red Flag” laws or “extreme risk protection orders.” These laws lack due process, and pro-gun groups have used them as an example of the government pushing an overreaching and constitutionally dubious gun law across the country. Right now these laws are only at the state level.
The form also requires that a “mental health professional” signs off that the person in question “has adequate mental capacity voluntarily to execute this document.” What is striking about this is how a person could have the mental capacity to sign away their rights, but not have the “mental capacity adequately to contract or manage the details of their life.” It seems contradictory.
There is nowhere in the form where the “mental health professional” has to certify that the patient under there care doesn’t have the mental capabilities to own firearms. It is only to confirm they are signing the document under a sound mind and body. Gun rights advocates worry about possible abuses because of how the certification is worded in the form.
The FBI and ATF are using these forms to target gun owners that are seeking help for mental health problems but do not fall under the guidelines of a prohibited person under federal law. Anti-gun doctors or anti-gun family members can push this document on a gun owner in their time of crisis, taking advantage of them in a weakened mental state.
Gun Owners of America are concerned that family members or doctors could coerce the holder of the firearm into giving up their natural-born right to bear arms. Many Americans seek mental help and temporarily turn over their guns to their family members, friends, or a pro-second amendment organization like Hold My Guns until they are in a better mental place. This way the government is not involved and the gun owner doesn’t lose their Constitutional right.
With the FBI option, even when the person is in a better mental place, they would not be able to get their rights back. That scares gun-rights activists and subverts due process. It could put those left vulnerable due to mental illness in a precarious position.
This form also faces some tough legal hurdles, as pointed out by Rob Olson, Chief Legal Counsel for Gun Owners of America.
For example, 18 U.S.C. Section 922(g)(4) prohibits from gun possession anyone “who has been adjudicated as a mental defective or who has been committed to a mental institution.” The keywords in that statute are “adjudicated” and “committed.” A court adjudicates and commits a person and not the person themselves.
Someone cannot designate themselves a felon. The person in question must meet the legal definition of a felon before being added as a prohibited person into NICS. Simply believing one’s self to “be a danger to myself or others” or to “lack mental capacity” does not count under federal law and does not disqualify a person from gun ownership.
Another issue is the language about being unable to “manage the details of my life,” is so vague that it could apply to anyone who hires a C.P.A. to fill out his taxes. It is also remarkably similar to the Obama Administration’s use of the Social Security Administration and the Veterans Administration to report to NICS anyone who used a representative to handle their finances. Notably, both houses of Congress and the President “disapproved” of this tactic, halting its use by the SSA.
GOA has filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for documents about the number of times patients have used the forms and under what circumstances the patients have applied them.
As of this writing, the FBI has acknowledged the receipt of the FIOA request, but the law enforcement agency has not responded with the requested information.
About John Crump
John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. He is the former CEO of Veritas Firearms, LLC and is the co-host of The Patriot News Podcast which can be found at www.blogtalkradio.com/patriotnews. John has written extensively on the patriot movement including 3%’ers, Oath Keepers, and Militias. In addition to the Patriot movement, John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and is currently working on a book on leftist deplatforming methods and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, on Facebook at realjohncrump, or at www.crumpy.com.
This has to be a joke. Enticing someone to sign away their rights for life, when they’ve got a temporary illness like depression is evil.
Gabby Giffords and her husband Mark (who is running for AZ senate) shoot AR’s all the time, yet want to ban them for everyone else. Send them these forms, and demand they sign them on TV and prove they have submitted them to the ATF. And every politician pushing gun control should give up their own right before attempting to infringe on anyone else’s. (There should be another form for politicians stating they pledge never to have armed security at taxpayer or private expense).
Ponder this……. If someone is incapable of making decisions concerning their everyday life, wouldn’t it also render them incapable of making the decision to sign this form unless they were coerced or forced to sign under duress? The very concept of this is dubious at best and likely nefarious in truth!
How can a person not capable of making decisions make the decision to sign this form and wave a Constitutionally underwritten natural right? And here is a hint for you. If you want to find a “mental health professional” in the Yellow pages try looking under the following categories: “Snake Oil Dealer;” “Faith Healer,” “Chicken Hide Tanner;” “Photon Torpedo Mechanic………………………”
Next we’ll hear about a Government form for citizens to add themselves to the Sex Offender List or the Dangerous Felon List and maybe even the Suicide by BATFE List where you can arrange to have the BATFE raid your home and murder your family and you and burn your house.
Maybe criminals or democrats will use this form to self-report themselves.
@USA, Hmmm … a psychoanalyst, a lawyer, and a hooker all go into a Home Depot … there has got to be a joke in there somewhere!
Add another UNCONSTITUTIONAL SO CALLED LAW.
Why would any idiot do this?.
My concern with the form, isn’t that some people may wish to file the form and withdraw from being able to purchase a firearm, that is their choice, be it a stupid one in my opinion.
My concern is that someone else may forge a form on someone that they didn’t like and file it with the NCIS, with out that person being aware of it . Then they go to buy a firearm and find out that they are permanently stopped from ever buying a firearm for the rest of their lives
Again, we see the federal government and their quislings in the private sector are not comprehending what “SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED” means. It is past time for us to force government back into its constitutional framework and physically remove anti-liberty individuals and groups from ouur society, permanently.