hi i am dave a 47 yr old disabled man that uses a wheelchair to get around and i got a letter in the mail yesterday that says my guardian who is not a family member but was put up to this by my family is trying to impose red flag laws on me when they dont even exsist here in mn is there any way around that cause i have been shot at in the past had 2 home invasions recently and last summer i saw a whole parade of people 1 block from my house with ar15s and ak47s and pistols and here i am totally defenseless i need help to figure this out so i can got get my concealed carry permit and a gun plus some body body armor thes are just a few things people are trying to restrict me of doing who should i call about this can you help please
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Welcome to the community! There are some lawyers here and hopefully one of them will chime in.
My unqualified opinion would be that if the red flag laws don’t exist as you say then they should not be able to impose them upon you. But if you have family members raising underserved red flags with local law enforcement that could certainly cause you problems in the future. If they have gone to the police and unjustly slandered your reputation you may need to take legal action against them to get them to cease and desist as well as to clear your name with local authorities. Though hopefully you could handle this by having a good talk with your family. Ask them what their concerns are and let them know what yours are.
Dear Dave,
Welcome. You’re among friends. It’s a noble thing to support our disabled. If one is not disabled, we all were once children dependent on others; If we’re lucky, we’ll all live to be elderly; And at some time in our lives we may experience not being 100% independent. Others in our community might have or are experiencing something similar.
If from a cognitive and psychological perspective, you are safe to own a firearm, then you - like many others – may have certain rights.
I’ve worked in the field of guardianship, and in areas where I was mandated to report clients to the state FOID departments, if they had certain intellectual or cognitive disabilities. Whereby the state would then investigate whether the can revoke their FOID.
Remember, on ATF’s form 4473, which we all have to sign when purchasing a firearm, one of the questions is “Have you ever been adjudicated as a mental defective”. On that form, it reads
“Prohibited Persons includes one who has been adjudicated as a mental defective”. Copy of said form is linked below.
Recently when at a gun-shop, I overheard the worker on the phone inform the prospective buyer, “your background check was denied, it was not approved”.
If you do have a legal guardian “of your person”, there is a very good reason that you have a guardian. Often times, when one has this type of guardianship, it’s because a court of law determined that the person had an intellectual disability. By no means personal, but for legal, health, and safety reasons.
If that’s correct in your case, then it’s more complicated. I’m not sure that if one has such type of guardian, that the authorities would be able to issue a FOID or permit to carry; I’m doubtful they would, but for good reasons.
I believe the reason is that the guardian serves in a role as a substitute decision maker for the intellectual disabled person. Therefore, it’s for safety reasons that guardians and or the authorities, erring on the side of caution, may not approve a FOID or carry permit.
Guardians are less likely appointed when there’s only a physical disability, but appointed when there’s a significant cognitive or psychological disability.
If one has this type of guardian, but believes they are competent enough not to still need a guardian, he/she can ask the court to review their case to see if the courts would overturn the decision, and re-issue your decision-making rights back to you.
Some persons who were issued a guardian, can improve to a point where they no longer require a guardian. Word to the wise, if the courts or those who help make decisions, learn that you want to revoke guardianship and relate that to your interest in firearms, they might think twice about it; After all- revoking guardianship is such a grand step, that it would affect many more aspects of your life and freedoms.
If you have a guardian, but also want to live more safely, as our friend here - Shamrock wrote, share your feelings with your family, friends, and guardian; In case they can help you to feel or be safer in your everyday life. You might also learn from fellow disabled persons, or persons who have a guardian, on how the help to be safe and manage coping with not being their own guardian.
Legal advice :
If you think you can be your own guardian and no longer need one, you can ask your county or state guardianship office for advice. If you can afford an attorney, consider one who focuses on guardianship law, and or one who is an advocate for the disabled. There may be non-for-profit legal foundations more local to you. Some universities offer legal aid as well.
Of note:
Body armor is of course uniquely distinct and separate from firearms. Although kinda pricy, you may be able to purchase one without needing a special license. Some sellers offer smaller budget payment installment plans. Some but not all armor is better than other body armor at protecting from knives as well. Look up your local ordinances to familiarize yourself with using body armor legally.
Also, remember to conduct yourself in a legal and ethical manner, in order to avoid legal problems, and maintain pride, looking at the long-term. Thank you for being part of our diverse community and forum. You make it richer.
A side point here. Anybody who does not own or possess a gun should NOT be prohibited by any law to buy body armor for personal use.
I’m disabled (not in a wheelchair) but am not under guardianship. My concern is that you have not provided any information as to why your family put you in this situation. No offense intended here. My father occasionally threatened physical harm to family members. My family tried to have him commuted but he was able to get out before 24 hours passed. Long story short my family found all of his hunting guns, disassembled them and got rid of most of the parts. Family heirlooms gone.
He was an alcoholic and Vietnam vet. I avoid communication with him since 1989 til his death in 2000. He threatened to harm many family members, including my wife. So, pardon me if I’m suspicious on whether you’re trying to circumvent restrictions placed on you without more details about your situation.
I hope you’re condition improves. Prayers.
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On the flip-side, I got personally involved in the case of a WW2 hero…former POW, DSC, SS (x2), PH (x7)…who was placed into conservatorship by a rural Mississippi judge and his attorney buddy (whom he named guardian) in order to confiscate his pension for about 30 years. He was not defective…just odd. Spending a year in a German POW camp after the entire Africa campaign + jumping into Normandy before D-Day as a Pathfinder might change one’s perspective on what’s important and what’s not. He was the editor of the biggest newspaper in the area when they had him committed – no doubt to shut him up about corruption he had been reporting on.
So the system does, in fact, get abused for nefarious purposes. That case reminded me never to pass judgment based on trust in our institutions and/or presumed good faith of officials. I had learned that lesson when I caught a superior officer stealing and selling crypto gear to a foreign adversary in my mid-20’s. I spent a year defending myself in military courts martial, in and out of pre-trial confinement, before I was exonerated and he and an accomplice were indicted. People suck. Bad people REALLY suck. And we simply don’t know a thing about the OP’s situation. That’s why I didn’t touch it with a 10 ft pole!
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I concur about what you’ve stated here. I too was facing corruption martial over a lying superior officer after he lied about me to cover his tail for doing something really stupid. Being enlisted put me in the position of being guilty until proven innocent. Unfortunately for me he had two witnesses he conjured up to negate my actual witness watching him jump a fence against my strong recommendation not to do it. He asked me to lie for him. I told him he needed to come clean. He then then told the commander I lied to cover my tracks because I was searching for a lost classified material. Somehow his witnesses discovered my predicament and came forward to admit they did not actually see the officer as they previously stated. Heads should have rolled but did not. The officer accusing me was relieved and transferred. A couple of days later the commander suu to popes me while passing to tell me what happened. The same commander that was about to read me my rights was now on my side. I learned a huge lesson. You really are on your own and vulnerable to deceitful people. People are crap. The Bible says to be of good character and above reproach. My character saved me.
So much more to this story and it’s not the only story.
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