Feinstein: Veterans All Have PTSD And Are Crazy, so Shouldn’t Own Modern Rifles

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Nick Leghorn

The Judiciary Committee is meeting today to mark-up the various civilian disarmament bills before the Senate. One of the bills in the frame: Senator Feinstein’s ”Assault Weapons Ban.” Readers watching the proceedings online tell TTAG that a proposed amendment would allow veterans to keep buying their “assault weapons” just like retired cops.  Senator Feinstein opposed the amendment on the basis that veterans have PTSD and can’t be trusted with guns. Here’s her exact words:

THE PROBLEM WITH EXPANDING THIS IS THAT, YOU KNOW, WITH THE ADVENT OF PTSD, WHICH I THINK IS A NEW PHENOMENON AS A PRODUCT OF THE IRAQ WAR, IT’S NOT CLEAR HOW THE SELLER OR TRANSFER OF A FIREARM COVERED BY THIS BILL WOULD VERIFY THAT AN INDIVIDUAL WAS A MEMBER OR VETERAN AND THERE WAS NO IMPAIRMENT OF THAT INDIVIDUAL WITH RESPECT TO HAVING A WEAPON LIKE THIS.
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I THINK WE HAVE TO — IF YOU’RE GOING TO DO THIS, FIND A WAY THAT VETERANS WHO ARE INCAPACITATED FOR ONE REASON OR ANOTHER MENTALLY, DON’T HAVE ACCESS TO THIS KIND OF WEAPON.

These are the same veterans we hand fully automatic machine guns to on a regular basis and send into battle. Feinstein considers them too crazy to own an AR-style rifle back home in the United States. Imagine that.