HOMELESS VETS TO REMAIN HOMELESS
By
Michael Connelly
MichaelConnelly.Jigsy.com
There are an estimated 130,000 to 200,000 U.S.
Military veterans homeless on any given night. These
are America’s heroes who fought for us and our
freedom and they don’t have a place to live. But,
fear not, the Obama administration has a message for
our homeless veterans; “drop dead”, we have illegal
aliens that need to be housed.
As a
result, there are several thousand illegals being
housed at Lackland Air force Base in San Antonio at
a cost to U.S. taxpayers of one half million dollars
per day. However, apparently these accommodations
are not sufficient for people who have willingly
violated our laws. ICE is converting one of its
buildings in San Antonio to suites to house over 350
illegals. These suites will reportedly include flat
screen televisions and free WIFI.
So
our homeless veterans will remain homeless and
unfortunately under assault in other ways. Veterans
are still being declared incompetent to handle their
own financial affairs at an accelerating rate. The
VA and the Department of Defense (DOD) are dropping
any pretext of fairness and are not using legitimate
reasons for making the declaration. I am hearing
from more veterans who are being declared
incompetent for the sole reason that their spouses
are handling the family finances.
Once
the declaration is made the veterans names are sent
to the FBI that places them on the National Instant
Criminal Background checklist (NICS) on the basis
that because they are incompetent to handle their
own financial affairs, they are therefore” mentally
ill to the point of being a danger to themselves or
others.” The determination of this status is not
made by a psychologist or psychiatrist and there is
no adjudication process as required by law. Eric
Holder has decreed that any Federal employee,
including independent contractors can declare a
veteran mentally ill. Once that happens, the veteran
can no longer purchase, own, possess, or transport
firearms. If they do, they can be charged with a
felony.
There is no due process for the veteran as is
required by the Fifth Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution. The burden is on the veteran to prove
he or she is competent and not mentally ill. The
veterans can appeal, but at their own expense and we
at the United States Justice Foundation (USJF) are
being hearing from veterans that they are often told
that if they do exercise the right to appeal their
financial benefits will be suspended until the
appeal is resolved, which may take up to two years.
This is extortion by the Federal government.
It
gets worse; the FBI is doubling down on the denial
of due process because on those rare occasions when
veterans win their appeals and have the incompetency
ruling reversed, the FBI is refusing to take them
off the NICS list and telling them they still cannot
own a firearm.
The
DOD has also gotten into the act and is hiring
outside independent contractors to declare veterans
and even active duty personnel incompetent and deny
them their Second Amendment rights. When the VA
sends a letter to veterans telling them that they
are about to be declared incompetent they are given
60 days to respond. This is apparently two long for
the DOD because I have seen notices from the outside
contractors to veterans giving them only 5 days to
respond.
When
we started working on this issue 18 months ago there
were over 159,000 veterans on the NICS list and we
estimated that over 99% of them did not belong
there. Now, with the accelerated pace being pushed
by both the VA and the DOD we believe the number may
be close to 200,000 veterans on the NICS list. We
have filed Freedom of Information Act Requests with
the VA, DOD, FBI, and Department of Homeland
Security to get information on the procedures and
alleged justification they are using to disarm our
veterans and to date have received no documents or
information. We will be filing suit against all of
these agencies if they fail to respond, as well as
preparing complaints on behalf of individual
veterans to get this stopped. Protecting our
veterans must be a top priority!