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The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI<\/a>) has pressured Americans to \u201cvoluntarily\u201d give up their Second Amendment rights, which is potentially illegal, according to newly disclosed documents.<\/p>\n FBI officials were found to have had a number of Americans fill out a form that said they want the FBI to make it illegal for them to purchase or own guns forever because of a mental health condition.<\/p>\n A national gun rights group,\u00a0Gun Owners of America<\/a>\u00a0(GOA), is demanding the FBI remove these records from the background check database by Oct. 8 and that Congress enforce the removals.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve learned the FBI had no business disarming these individuals. They did not pose a threat to society. The FBI actions were wholly unlawful,\u201d Aidan Johnston, GOA\u2019s director of federal affairs, told The Epoch Times.<\/p>\n Fifteen people filled out the forms, according to documents GOA\u00a0acquired through a Freedom of Information (FOIA) lawsuit.<\/p>\n The\u00a0National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NISC)\u00a0is how licensed gun dealers can check if a purchaser can legally own a gun.<\/p>\n The completed \u201cself-submission\u201d forms show people gave their mental health records to the FBI and signed to accept that \u201ccompletion and submission of this form will result in denial of my right to purchase, to possess and to use any firearm.\u201d<\/p>\n There is no time frame or process given for getting back their rights, which is what the GOA is trying to do for them.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have the records of 15 cases so far but, for all we know, it could be 1,500 or 15,000,\u201d said Robert J. Olson, an attorney for\u00a0 GOA, told The Epoch Times in an interview. \u201cThe FBI tells us these persons were put in the NICS system as mentally prohibited, and there\u2019s no way to track who was entered on the basis of this form. But the burden is on the FBI to fix this because they had no power to put these people into the system in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n The names and personal details are redacted and the forms are dated from 2017 to 2019. An FBI spokesperson told\u00a0The Daily Caller,<\/a> which first reported about these forms, that the form was \u201cdiscontinued\u201d in December 2019.<\/p>\n None of the 15 people who signed the form were legally prohibited from buying guns for mental health reasons because if they were legally prohibited, there would have been no need for the form, according to GOA. Johnston told The Epoch Times that the group also received other documents from its FOIA request, including notes and interviews from FBI field agents present during the signing of the forms. Some of the people threatened violence online, but they were determined not to be a danger after further investigation.<\/p>\n \u201cThe FBI disarmed a high school student\u2014who wasn\u2019t even of legal age to own a firearm\u2014for looking online for hacking advice on a school computer,\u201d said Johnston. \u201cThe student told the agents that he didn\u2019t even want to buy a gun, but he then signed away his right to ever buy one.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the 15 people was investigated by an assistant U.S. attorney who then declined to prosecute, according to GOA. The U.S. prosecutor wrote that the FBI believed the person \u201cdoes not appear to pose a threat to himself, others, or the President at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) wrote on Twitter about the FBI documents, \u201cYou cannot sign away your constitutional rights\u2014despite what the FBI wishes.\u201d<\/p>\n Under federal law (pdf<\/a>), a person is prohibited from buying or owning firearms only if he or she has been adjudicated as a mental defective or committed to a mental institution. The \u201cself submission\u201d form doesn\u2019t require either of those things to be true.<\/p>\n \u201cA person can have mental health problems and not be a \u2018mental defective\u2019\u2014which was intended to be a narrow term by Congress. This law is not to prevent someone who has PTSD, or depression from the loss of a loved one, from owning a gun,\u201d Olson explained. \u201cThe FBI is preying on people at weak times in their lives who, for example, post something on the internet without considering the consequences\u201d<\/p>\n The form has the person check off one or two boxes that say they felt they were \u201ca danger to myself or others\u201d or \u201clack mental capacity adequately to contract or manage the details of my life.\u201d It has a section that is filled out by a physician or licensed mental health professional that says the person has been examined and has \u201cadequate mental health capacity voluntarily to execute this document.\u201d<\/p>\n Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said\u00a0on Fox News<\/a>, \u201cThere is a certain irony to saying to someone you have to be mentally competent to sign this statement that says you\u2019re not mentally competent to have a gun.\u201d Paul pointed out that it \u201cmight be a quandary if you get into a court of law\u2014how someone that\u2019s mentally incompetent to own a gun could be competent to sign away their gun rights.\u201d<\/p>\n GOA\u00a0wrote a letter<\/a>\u00a0on Sept. 8 to Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray explaining that the law on background checks says if a person is wrongly in NICS, the agency has 30 days to remove the record.<\/p>\n \u201cThe FBI is now on a 30-day countdown clock to remove these names from the database,\u201d said Johnston. \u201cThe FBI also has to confirm to us that they are no longer using this form. Gun owners deserve to know what steps the FBI is taking to ensure it is not arbitrarily disarming anyone else in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n The FBI did not respond to a request for comment on whether it will abide by the 30-day deadline.<\/p>\n The letter says \u201cthe FBI has no statutory authority to create or to use such a form\u201d and that the Gun Control Act of 1968 \u201cdoes not contain a prohibitor for a person who merely self-reports as mentally incapacitated.\u201d The gun control act established the nine categories of people who are prohibited from owning or buying guns, which includes felons, drug addicts, illegal aliens, and domestic abusers.<\/p>\n \u201cPast, present, or future use of this form conflicts with the statute that Congress enacted and represents a clear infringement of Second Amendment rights that \u2018shall not be infringed,\u2019\u201d GOA wrote.<\/p>\n It is clear that it is illegal for the FBI to put people into NICS indices who aren\u2019t prohibited because there is\u00a0a bill in<\/a>\u00a0the U.S. House that would change current law to allow for it. The legislation, sponsored by Rep.\u00a0Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), would have the attorney general \u201cestablish and maintain\u201d a \u201cVoluntary Purchase Delay Database.\u201d The bill would amend federal law to allow for people with mental health issues to put themselves into an online database that would be included in federal background checks before a gun was sold. It was referred to the House Judiciary Committee in July.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the GAO said it\u2019s looking to Capitol Hill for support.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are working the halls of Congress so it holds the FBI accountable,\u201d said Johnston. He said they want Congress members and senators to enforce the 30-day rule on the FBI taking out the NICS records and a more complete investigation into the self submission forms.<\/p>\n Paul told Fox that what happened is part of a pattern of FBI actions that appear to be biased against conservatives.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a burden on the FBI \u2026 to prove to us that they are not acting in a political way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Read more at the Epoch Times<\/a><\/p>\nFBI Tactics<\/h2>\n
Give Up Your Second Amendment Rights<\/h2>\n
Mental Health and Guns<\/h2>\n
FBI Held Accountable<\/h2>\n
Capitol Hill\u2019s Role<\/strong><\/h2>\n