Well, here’s a moral quandary for ya.
Not only does the second amendment give you the right to bear arms, one of the reasons it’s so ingrained in our society’s psyche is that it stems from the Revolutionary Way, and the belief that possessing firearms is a safeguard against any sort of tyrannical actions performed by the government.
They can enslaves me when I’m outs of bullets, I says.” Or something to that effect.
So what if you believe the government truly is after you? Do you have a right to your guns then? Hell fucking yea, you’d say. But what if the government says you may be just a little bit psychotic?
Things get dicey, right?
Ralph Gilbertson is a Minnesota man with no criminal history. But after he sent his neighbors letters identifying people in his apartment building as CIA agents, the management complained and the state decided to step in and take his guns.
“There are literally hundreds of CIA spies in Richfield alone that harass me,” he wrote in one letter. “There are thousands of these people in the south-suburban area. I am certain I will be murdered some day.”
Three Richfield police officers seized a .40-caliber pistol, which the 74-year-old Gilbertson carries everywhere, along with a Smith & Wesson .357 magnum and an RG .22 revolver.
Gilbertson has a valid conceal carry permit, and is now suing the state to get his guns back.
“Is he crazy dangerous or is he the crazy uncle?” said Lt. Mike Flaherty, a Richfield police spokesman. “We have to make that decision and let the legal system sort it out.”
“He’s what some people would say is a conspiracy theorist,” said his attorney, Paul Baertschi. “It is an unusual situation. But really, the police acted unilaterally in deciding that a person who has these beliefs can’t be trusted with a gun — and so they just took them, without a warrant.”
He believes in Bigfoot and UFOs as well, which is just another reason to be well-armed. According to Minnesota law, his appeal has grounds, and he could be able to get his guns back.
The question is, should he?
[Via Raw Story]