Virginia: Do reinstated voting rights mean easier reinstated gun rights?

MoonHowler

gun-felon-illustration

Washingtonpost.com:

RICHMOND — Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s order last month restoringthe voting rights of 206,000 felons had an unintended consequence: It’s now easier for those ex-offenders to regain the right to own guns.

Before the order, felons who wanted to legally possess firearms first had to go through the process of having their civil rights reinstated, including the right to vote, to sit on a jury and to run for office.

That process — which involved submitting forms that were scrutinized by the secretary of the commonwealth’s staff, using the governor’s authority — is no longer in place.

Instead, felons who have completed their sentences can go straight to the step of petitioning the circuit court for firearm rights. Prosecutors review those petitions and can intervene if they believe a felon should continue to be barred from owning a weapon.

Days after McAuliffe (D) signed the April 22 voting-rights order, which was strongly opposed by leading Republicans in the GOP-controlled legislature, Secretary of the Commonwealth Kelly Thomasson warned commonwealth’s attorneys of a potential increase in gun rights requests.

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McAuliffe restores voting rights to felons

MoonHowler


 

In a nutshell:

Washingtonpost.com:

McAuliffe’s restoration of voting rights will apply to former nonviolent and violent offenders. Anyone who has been convicted of a felony and has completed his sentence and been released from supervised probation or parole is eligible. The new voting rights apply to felons convicted in another state and living in Virginia.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe will allow more than 200,000 ex-cons in Virginia to register to vote in the upcoming presidential election, one of the biggest actions taken by a state to instantly restore voting rights.

The change applies to all felons who have completed their sentences and been released from supervised probation or parole. The Democratic governor’s decision particularly affects black residents of Virginia: 1 in 4 African Americans in the state has been permanently banned from voting because of laws restricting the rights of those with convictions.

“Once you have served your time and you’ve finished up your supervised parole. . .I want you back as a full citizen of the commonwealth,” McAuliffe said. “I want you to have a job. I want you paying taxes, and you can’t be a second-class citizen.”

The governor called the instant restoration of rights to these Virginians the natural next step to his incremental streamlining of a process that has already given 18,000 nonviolent felons their rights back. With the signing of Friday’s executive order, McAuliffe eliminated the need for an application for violent felons who had completed their sentences up to that moment.

 

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Voting rights issue or school safety?

MoonHowler

December, 2012  at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Strasburg, Virginia.

 Fast forward to yesterday, June 11, 2013:

nvdaily.com:

Christopher Gerrit Johnson found his plans to vote in Tuesday’s primary temporarily stymied at the Strasburg Police Department before authorities agreed he had a right to cast his ballot and allowed him to do so.

Johnson’s initial trouble in voting at Strasburg High School, his designated polling place, stemmed from a “no trespassing” order banning him from Shenandoah County Public Schools property. The order was issued after an incident in mid-December when Johnson entered Sandy Hook Elementary School with a board bearing the words “high powered rifle.”

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