Texas Army Veteran Denied Second Amendment Rights

Texas Army veteran Ron Kelly has been stripped of his Second Amendment rights. The retired soldier was shocked to find his name flagged during a gun ownership background check at a Tomball Walmart. More than four decades ago, Kelly was arrested with a baggie of pot. The probation-only minor misdemeanor offense thwarted his attempt to buy a.22 caliber rifle for personal protection.

The 1971 pot arrest during his teenage years did not prevent the Texas veteran from joining the Army. Before retiring from the United States military in 1993, Ron Kelly had been tasked with firing tanks and packing a machine gun. Kelly appealed the gun background check results and recently received a letter from the US Department of Justice detailing why he is now no longer legally able to exercise his Second Amendment rights.

An excerpt about the law which prompted the background check red flag from a Houston Chronicle interview with Ron Kelly reads:

“According to the FBI, which runs the background checks known as the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, the law states that a person can be prevented from owing a gun if they are convicted of a misdemeanor in which they could spend more than two years behind bars.”

The retired solider has reached out to Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn and GOP Representative Michael McCaul for help resolving the gun ownership denial and to perhaps garner a waiver allowing him once again to exercise his Second Amendment rights.

The Texas Army veteran had this to say about the now viral gun background check fiasco:

“I am ashamed of the way my government has treated me. The government may have the greatest intentions with the law, but they messed it up.”

While serving as an infantryman, the Texas veteran fired approximately 100,000 rounds of government-issued ammunition. Ron Kelly has vowed to keep fighting the Second Amendment revocation and stated that he wants to own a gun again. How do you feel about the retired soldier being denied the right to own a gun over a 42-year-old minor marijuana misdemeanor?