• UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Doesn’t it strike people as just a little bit fucked up that you can lose a fundamental constitutional right that easily?

    Google “the Mulford Act”. Republicans loved chasing poc around for owning or displaying guns, all up and down California, back in the 60s and 70s when the Civil Rights Movement was at its peak.

    Its definitely fucked up. But its all part of the grand kabuki theater of criminal justice in our country. Build up a hysterical fear of Other People so you can give the police something to do. Then use the parade of prosecutions as proof that (a) crime is out of control and (b) we absolutely need to gut more public services so we can put a bigger and more heavily armed police force on the street.

    Should you lose the right to a trial by a jury of your peers, with legal representation, if you’re addicted to Oxy? Should you be forced to go to an evangelical, Christian nationalist church if you’re an alcoholic? There’s a pretty decent argument that conviction of a violent crime–including misdemeanor domestic battery–should cause you to lose your 2A rights. But this isn’t a case of someone being convicted of anything.

    You can find instances of all of the above tried by various state and local courts in the US.

    • HelixDab2@lemm.ee
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      7 months ago

      Oh, I’m very, very familiar with what Reagan did as the governor of California. The Black Panthers were absolutely in the right to resist the abuses of power by the white establishment cops, and banning the open carrying of firearms was expressly intended to prevent their oversight of the police. Even the idea that drug abusers would be banned from owning firearms directly stems from trying to prevent minority groups from being armed.

      But its all part of the grand kabuki theater of criminal justice in our country.

      Indeed. If we really cared about criminal justice, we’d focus on prevention by correcting root causes, and using proven methods to reduce recidivism. But we do none of those things.

      You can find instances of all of the above tried by various state and local courts in the US.

      I’m definitely aware of cases of convicted felons having their parole conditioned on attending Christian religious services, and the FFRF sues the shit out of states–and wins!–when state do shit like that. But yes, states can and do use every tool at their disposal, legal or otherwise, to remove constitutionally guaranteed rights. And I think that’s a huge problem regardless of which right it is.