Brady Misfires at *Accused* Felons

I was denied a handgun purchase earlier this year in Houston. I called Barry McDermitt of the Houston Police Department, ID Section, and discussed the matter with him (he has the ind ividual who made the decision to deny purchase). Barry was very professional and polite, and shed some light some on the "logic" behind the madness.

I was denied due to a misdemeanor charge from twenty years ago. In the state of Texas, the computer files show only the date and place of arrest, so if you show up on the computer for any kind of arrest whatsoever, you are denied. I checked on this with m ultiple sources, and was convinced that this is true.

Therefore, Barry found that I had been arrested, and left burden of proof on me that I was not a convicted felon. I argued with Barry that this was a case of guilty until proven innocent. Barry said that the Houston Police Department and the BATF had determined that this was within their authority to do so.

Coincidentally, I had to take a day off from work for jury duty. I thought I'd have some fun, so stopped by Barry's office in the main office downtown. I handed Barry my jury summons and asked him to get me out of jury duty due to my new status of "felon" .

Barry was visibly flustered, I could tell that he hadn't thought out the implications of their policies. He stammered for a while and then said he'd call in the gun purchase approval. I had my court disposition with me (I had to send off for it from another city) and ended up showing it to Barry to make him feel better.

Another interesting tidbit, Officer McDermitt explained the Houston Police Department's reasoning for rejecting transfers because of outstanding traffic tickets. He says that this means you must have lied on your transfer application (4473), i.e. you are a "fugitive from justice".

My take on all this Brady [crap] is that it's not having any affect on crime. The only thing that it's doing is hassling honest citizens. Fortunately, I think some of the backlash from these infringements on freedom showed up in the recent elections.

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