Now that released felons in Virginia have gotten their right to vote back (as well as privileges like being able to serve as a public notary), should their gun rights be restored as well?
A. Barton Hinkle writes:
Republicans have slammed McAuliffe’s order as nothing more than political chicanery. But while they might have a point about the politics, they are wrong on principle. Having paid their debt, felons should be able to rejoin civil society as full members in good standing. As Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) put it the other day, responding to GOP critics: “The right to vote is a right. It is not a privilege.”
The same holds true for the right to keep and bear arms—and the right to self-defense. So why shouldn’t the same principle that applies to voting rights apply to gun rights?
The answer, presumably, is that felons might be dangerous. But that doesn’t hold up under even casual scrutiny. For one thing, it implies the state is releasing dangerous people into the general population. If the state is doing that, then it should stop. But supporters of the governor’s executive order clearly don’t think that is happening. They seem to hold that felons have reformed. McAuliffe himself said “they have atoned.” If so, then they present no threat, do they?
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