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Governor McDonnell publishes procedure to restore rights of Felons

Repeater

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From the Secretary of the Commonwealth's web site:

Restoration of Rights
If you have lost the right to vote as a result of a felony conviction in a Virginia court, a U.S. District or a military court, you must have your rights restored in order to qualify for voter registration. The restoration of rights restores the rights to vote, to run for and hold public office, to serve on juries and to serve as a notary public. It does not include the right to possess or transport any firearm or to carry a concealed weapon.

...

To regain state firearms privileges, a convicted felon must apply to the circuit court of his or her jurisdiction of residence for a permit to possess or carry a firearm. Circuit courts may consider the restoration of firearms privileges only after civil rights are restored. (Va. Code §18.2-308.2)
Uh, firearms privileges?
 

dbc3804

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I believe that when he is released from jail or has served his parole time, all rights should be automaticaly restored. Hasn't he done his time and paid for his crime? If he is still a menace to society, why release him? If his crime was so horrible that he can never be trusted, he should have received the death penality.
 

TFred

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I think it's a matter of semantics. I think the Governor's statement is indeed wrong.

The right to keep and bear arms is just that, a right... A right which can be lost. But when it is restored, it is also just that, a right which has been restored.

I don't think the ability to keep and bear arms should ever be described as a privilege.

TFred
 

ProShooter

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dbc3804 wrote:
I believe that when he is released from jail or has served his parole time, all rights should be automaticaly restored. Hasn't he done his time and paid for his crime? If he is still a menace to society, why release him? If his crime was so horrible that he can never be trusted, he should have received the death penality.

I think that if you knowingly commit a crime that is a felony, that you should understand that there are lifelong, lasting reprecussions for your actions. People need to understand the consequences of their actions and live with those consequences. If that means no voting, no notary and no guns, so be it. You make your bed, you sleep in it.
 

PT111

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ProShooter wrote:
dbc3804 wrote:
I believe that when he is released from jail or has served his parole time, all rights should be automaticaly restored. Hasn't he done his time and paid for his crime? If he is still a menace to society, why release him? If his crime was so horrible that he can never be trusted, he should have received the death penality.

I think that if you knowingly commit a crime that is a felony, that you should understand that there are lifelong, lasting reprecussions for your actions. People need to understand the consequences of their actions and live with those consequences. If that means no voting, no notary and no guns, so be it. You make your bed, you sleep in it.

I tend to agree more with you than some others on this. The whole thing that he paid his debt to society is a bunch of BS to me in most cases. The paying of a debt for most crime should actually be two fold. One is the repayment to "society" and the other is to the person that was actually harmed. Let's say you have a '57 Chevy that you have spent hours restoring, every weekend for two years and have it in perfect condition and planning on taking it to the once a year car show this weekend knowing that you will win first prize along with the $5,000 check. Some fellow comes by, breaks into your garage, hotwires your car, takes it for a joy ride and although does't total it makes sure that it won't be at the car show this week end.

He is caught and because of age or whatever sentenced to 6 months. He pays his six months debt to society, out free with full rights restored while you are back to working on your chevy every weekend. He rides by your house with you working out front and stops in the streetto give you a "Looking Good" comment on your chevy. He then heads off to the range to do some shooting with his buddies. Oh, I forgot the judge ordered him to pay you $2,500 for the damages to your car that his father paid so everyone is now square.
 

peter nap

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PT111 wrote:
ProShooter wrote:
dbc3804 wrote:
I believe that when he is released from jail or has served his parole time, all rights should be automaticaly restored. Hasn't he done his time and paid for his crime? If he is still a menace to society, why release him? If his crime was so horrible that he can never be trusted, he should have received the death penality.

I think that if you knowingly commit a crime that is a felony, that you should understand that there are lifelong, lasting reprecussions for your actions. People need to understand the consequences of their actions and live with those consequences. If that means no voting, no notary and no guns, so be it. You make your bed, you sleep in it.

I tend to agree more with you than some others on this. The whole thing that he paid his debt to society is a bunch of BS to me in most cases. The paying of a debt for most crime should actually be two fold. One is the repayment to "society" and the other is to the person that was actually harmed. Let's say you have a '57 Chevy that you have spent hours restoring, every weekend for two years and have it in perfect condition and planning on taking it to the once a year car show this weekend knowing that you will win first prize along with the $5,000 check. Some fellow comes by, breaks into your garage, hotwires your car, takes it for a joy ride and although does't total it makes sure that it won't be at the car show this week end.

He is caught and because of age or whatever sentenced to 6 months. He pays his six months debt to society, out free with full rights restored while you are back to working on your chevy every weekend. He rides by your house with you working out front and stops in the streetto give you a "Looking Good" comment on your chevy. He then heads off to the range to do some shooting with his buddies. Oh, I forgot the judge ordered him to pay you $2,500 for the damages to your car that his father paid so everyone is now square.
All that sounds very stylish....and I'd agree if all felonies were violent crimes or at least had a victim.
Unfortunately, the trend has been over the last decade, to make petty things that would be chalked up to boys will be boys, years ago... felonies.

People can't go a month without committing a felony, either State or Federal. They just don't know it.

Even seemingly innocent things like taking a picture of the baby in the bath is a felony...sending it via email to Grandpa is another.

My favorite, the old Geezer wearing a painters mask on his daily walk because the pollen bothers him.

But as Bill Bolling said to me once.."Law enforcement will use good judgment in choosing who to prosecute":lol:
 

Pagan

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ProShooter wrote:
I think that if you knowingly commit a crime that is a felony, that you should understand that there are lifelong, lasting reprecussions for your actions. People need to understand the consequences of their actions and live with those consequences. If that means no voting, no notary and no guns, so be it. You make your bed, you sleep in it.

Unfortunately the courts do not care if you "know" something is a felony or not. Both of my felonies when I was 18 back in 1994, were unknown felonies to me. Yes I was an adult by law, but had never been given any kind of "felony training", and seeing how neither of my crimes were violent or involved any kind of sexuall mis- conduct, the thought of them being felonies, honestly never occured to me.

And at 18 I did not really comprehend the seriousness of the brand "felon", perhaps a rigorous and in depth training for all 17 year olds should be applied in our senior years of high school, about what constitutes a felony, and how it affects you, may be in order, wish I could have had one:banghead:
 

ProShooter

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Pagan wrote:
ProShooter wrote:
I think that if you knowingly commit a crime that is a felony, that you should understand that there are lifelong, lasting reprecussions for your actions. People need to understand the consequences of their actions and live with those consequences. If that means no voting, no notary and no guns, so be it. You make your bed, you sleep in it.

Unfortunately the courts do not care if you "know" something is a felony or not. Both of my felonies when I was 18 back in 1994, were unknown felonies to me. Yes I was an adult by law, but had never been given any kind of "felony training", and seeing how neither of my crimes were violent or involved any kind of sexuall mis- conduct, the thought of them being felonies, honestly never occured to me.

And at 18 I did not really comprehend the seriousness of the brand "felon", perhaps a rigorous and in depth training for all 17 year olds should be applied in our senior years of high school, about what constitutes a felony, and how it affects you, may be in order, wish I could have had one:banghead:

I didn't say anything about knowing that the crime was a felony, only knowing thatthe action taken was acrime (which happened to be a felony). There are lifelong penalties associated with misdemeanors too. If you have a petty larceny conviction and I'm a retail employer, there's a great chance that I won't hire you. if you have a poor driving record and are applying for a driving position, look elsewhere, etc. Decisions made regarding any criminal activity can come back to bite you at some point.

You said that you didn't know that you were committing a felony, but did you know that you were committing a crime?
 

PT111

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"Felony Training"? So now we want a course in high school that tells students that this is just a misdomeaner and is OK if you do this but these are felonies and you don't do them. How about these are crimes and you don't do either one. As for the boys will be boys stuff from years ago, I have heardthat excuseapplied to rape before. Added to it wasif she didn't want to get pregnant then she should have used protection, that's not my job.

The picture of the naked baby emailed to the grandparents shouldn't be a problem but too many times that same picture winds up on a child pornography site. How it gets from Grandma's cell phone to the Internet is a good question but it seems to happen quite regularly. Occasionally you may even find that it was place there by Grandpa.
 

tkd2006

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One way to look at this is why the uproar now over something that has been law for quite some time. I would rather make someone that has comitted a felony jump through 2 hoops to prove he has learned his mstake rather than just ok your 10 years are up for rape, and breaking and entering you can own a firearm now. Do you honestly believe everyone that serves his sentance has learned and served his debt to society.... I dont.

Also remember at least the FEDs have given authority to the states to reinstate this right. espically since ATF stopped giving relief back in the late 90s. But remember even if you have your rights restored on the state level for voting etc it doesnt mean you will be able to get your rights back for firearms. If you are convicted of a Federal Felony the state court can restore your right to vote but the circuit court can NOT restore your firearm rights, The same can be said for a Dishonorable Discharge the state courts can not restore firearm rights for those.
 

Fenris

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I'm more afraid of the felons in politics than the felons with guns.
 

PT111

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Fenris wrote:
I'm more afraid of the felons in politics than the felons with guns.
Usually, but not always when one is a convicted felon then he has to resign his office. However they usually get to keep their ill-gotten retirement and get to stay on as a consultant or at the very worst have to degrade themselves by becoming a $10,000 per event convention speaker. If they have been really, really bad then they can write a book and get a $5,000,000 advance on the sales. The worst part of all is we then can't vote them out or anything. There is no one to blame for this but the American Public. Millions of supposedly intelligent people pay around $12 per month to listen to Howard Stern on Satellite Radio while we argue back and forth on here whether the NRA should be run out of the US or not.
 

Pagan

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PT111 wrote:
"Felony Training"? So now we want a course in high school that tells students that this is just a misdomeaner and is OK if you do this but these are felonies and you don't do them. How about these are crimes and you don't do either one.
I think that misdemeanors should carry real jail time,just reserve felony status for violent and child molestation type of crimes. Serving a year or two in jail for a serious class 1 will have the same long term effect, even without being branded felon,IMO.
 

PT111

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Pagan wrote:
PT111 wrote:
"Felony Training"? So now we want a course in high school that tells students that this is just a misdomeaner and is OK if you do this but these are felonies and you don't do them. How about these are crimes and you don't do either one.
I think that misdemeanors should carry real jail time,just reserve felony status for violent and child molestation type of crimes. Serving a year or two in jail for a serious class 1 will have the same long term effect, even without being branded felon,IMO.

You are not going to get any argument out of me about what should or should not be a felon. In fact I don't think that there should be any difference between the two and a crime is a crime. Now some crimes are much more serious than others and should carry a much harsher punishment than others but this whole felony vs. misdemeanor category is pure BS to me and actually encourages certain crimes. A criminal knows that what they are doing in only a misdemeaner or can be plead down to a misdemeanor so there isn't much incentive to not do it.

I take it from your earlier post that you had two felony convictions in your younger days and I think the question was asked. Did you not know that they were crimes or just that they werenot misdemeanors.If you had known that they were felonies rather than misdemeanors would you still have done them. If you say that you just didn't know that they were felonies then I have no sympathy for you.
 

Pagan

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PT111 wrote:
Pagan wrote:
PT111 wrote:
"Felony Training"? So now we want a course in high school that tells students that this is just a misdomeaner and is OK if you do this but these are felonies and you don't do them. How about these are crimes and you don't do either one.
I think that misdemeanors should carry real jail time,just reserve felony status for violent and child molestation type of crimes. Serving a year or two in jail for a serious class 1 will have the same long term effect, even without being branded felon,IMO.

You are not going to get any argument out of me about what should or should not be a felon. In fact I don't think that there should be any difference between the two and a crime is a crime. Now some crimes are much more serious than others and should carry a much harsher punishment than others but this whole felony vs. misdemeanor category is pure BS to me and actually encourages certain crimes. A criminal knows that what they are doing in only a misdemeaner or can be plead down to a misdemeanor so there isn't much incentive to not do it.

I take it from your earlier post that you had two felony convictions in your younger days and I think the question was asked. Did you not know that they were crimes or just that they werenot misdemeanors.If you had known that they were felonies rather than misdemeanors would you still have done them. If you say that you just didn't know that they were felonies then I have no sympathy for you.
I really had noidea my first felony was even illegal, it totally just took me by surprise. My second one some months later I knew was wrong, but was actually more of ana$$holish prank, that turned out to be a felony.
 

MK

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I think this is a good move in the right direction.

If someone committed a felony that involved an act of violence against another, they should lose their right to bear arms.

There are alot of felonies where people intended no harm to others or at least didn't hurt people physically nor threaten them. A person who sold someone a joint when they were 19 shouldn't lose their right to defend themselves for the rest of their lives. Its absurd.

There needs to be some discretion applied.
 
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