Kenya N. Rahmaan
Based on history, if one state enacts a new law, other states may follow suit. With child support enforcement punishing parents by suspending driver’s and professional licenses, denying passports, and incarceration, there may be a new punishment on the horizon for Virginia parents. Many may construe the new law as yet another civil rights violation to Americans who happen to be parents and want to carry a concealed handgun. The 2nd Amendment guarantees that the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed (Cornell University Law School). Even though no direct legislation is being introduced to deny people the right to bear arms, legislators may launch a backdoor attack against carrying concealed weapons (CCW) permits.
Although every state has a specific law related to carrying a concealed weapon, the basic idea is the same as in the 50th state to enact a CCW law, Illinois. According to Ciara McCarthy of Slate (2013), Illinois law allows concealed guns on private property and places of work and worship. While states require a permit to carry a weapon, not all states have implemented a policy that denies the right to the license due to owing an outstanding debt. Several states revoke a CCW permit when a parent becomes delinquent on their child support payments.
Most states have initiated child support cases against a non-custodial parent due to the custodial parent applying for government assistance. By signing the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) application for cash, food stamps, and health insurance, the non-custodial parent is automatically the victim of several punishments that infringe upon their rights. In California, by the custodial parent receiving the monthly payment of $638, a non-custodial parent may have their permit to carry a weapon canceled if child support payments aren’t on time. Non-custodial parents are not only charged 10% interest for late payments. They can also face up to one year in prison and $2k in fines. Under the license restriction laws of California, CCW permits are up for grabs, along with business, occupational, and driver’s licenses.
The National Conference of State Legislatures or NCSL (2014) reports that the trigger criteria for license revocation are arrears in the amount of 30 calendar days or more. Revoking licenses can prevent a parent from earning a living; however, denying CCW permits can prevent people from protecting themselves, their family, and their property. Prohibiting a person’s right to carry a weapon is of no benefit to the children or the collection of child support payments, and it indirectly denies a person the right to bear arms. Knowing that child support guidelines already violate a citizen’s right not to be incarcerated because of owing a debt, the right to bear arms is in serious jeopardy. Unfortunately, there is no security against the government denying a person the right to bear arms if child support payments are late.
Former Governor Rick Perry updated the CCW law in 2013. According to Claire Cardona of the Dallas Morning News (2013), new legislation allows people, including students, with concealed handgun licenses, to store their firearms in their cars on university campuses and parking lots. This new law can provide protection for those who may face danger while running errands or attending classes. Regrettably, anyone that is delinquent on child support payments is denied this same luxury. The denial is due to the eligibility clause, which states that an application for carrying a handgun license may be rejected for an individual finally determined to be delinquent in child support obligations (Texas Department of Public Safety, 2011).
This restriction violates equal protections under the law as it prohibits people that happen to be parents from protecting themselves if they cannot afford hefty child support arrears. Texas revokes licenses if the arrears amount is in the amount of three months or more (NCSL, 2014). For parents owing arrears, there is the possibility of a prison sentence of up to two years and a $10k fine. With the revocation of CCW licenses, people must wonder if the government will deny the right to bear arms in Texas to parents and citizens as a whole when indebted to the government. As the government applies more restrictions, more citizens’ rights are bound to be denied in the quest to improve state retention amounts and federal incentive payments.
People have the right to defend themselves, and the lack of money should not dictate who is entitled to that critical, constitutionally protected right to bear arms. Opponents of the denial of CCW permits due to child support payment delinquencies can argue that there is a difference between a license and a permit when dealing with child support enforcement. However, in Tennessee, the law is clear regarding the CCW law and child support enforcement. The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) states that Tennessee considers any concealed carry permit to be deemed a ‘license’ when dealing with the enforcement of child support obligations through license denial and revocation.
Government overreach is an example of how the government can input a particular language and transfer a policy to fit a specific purpose. A permit is different from a license, but to justify snatching permits from otherwise eligible individual citizens, legislators must implement changes in the language of the law. Suppose state officials are permitted to exercise such apparent violations with no repercussions. In that case, there is no guarantee that officials will not extend the law to include owning guns completely when a person is late on child support payments. It is not enough that in exchange for a $185 monthly TANF grant, a delinquent non-custodial parent can face up to six years in prison and a $3k fine.
They can now face denial of the right to own a firearm and protect themselves from danger. In Tennessee, licenses or permits for child support enforcement can be revoked after arrears have amounted to at least $500 or are at least 90 days delinquent (NCSL, 2014). It is a step too far to yank a CCW license away from parents that may have committed no other crime except for being too poor to pay excessive child support debt.
The then newly elected Governor, Terry McAuliffe, was attempting to enact a new law that partly follows his predecessors in confiscating permits from parents who fall behind on child support payments. According to The Daily Caller (2014), the Governor is seeking to arbitrarily strip some 9,000 Virginia parents of their right to hold concealed weapons permits for falling behind on child support payments. Again, paying child support has nothing to do with a person’s right to own a weapon or possess a concealed handgun.
If American citizens allow the state government to finesse laws to suit its plan, the federal government may attempt the same violations in the name of child support. As it stands, five licenses can be suspended in Virginia because of failure to pay child support. The NCSL (2014) explains that the trigger criteria for license suspension in Virginia are 90-day delinquency or arrears for $5k or more. A person will also face CCW permit seizure if they fail to appear in court once they are legally served with a subpoena by the court.
The restrictions that parents face due to child support enforcement have gone above and beyond the alleged reasoning behind the operations of a child support office. It is not beneficial to children if a parent cannot drive to work or practice their profession because child support laws allow the revocation of their licenses. Just as importantly, a parent has the right to defend themselves and their children in the face of danger. The government has and will continue to overstep boundaries that violate rights that are supposed to be protected under clauses expressed in the US Constitution. While it is true that parents are legally obligated to provide for their children, the government must also adhere to its obligations to US citizens.
Just as people should not be jailed for owing debt they can’t afford to pay, citizens should not be stripped of their guns if they become 30 days delinquent on child support payments. Suppose Virginia enacts its controversial gun law targeting parents because of overdue child support bills. In that case, there will be no limit to the violations of gun laws that may follow across the country. All 50 states allow some CCW law that permits people to carry a firearm, which means that all 50 states have the power to strip that right from their residents.
The question that everyone must ask is when will the revocation of gun permits ends. Not everyone that owns a gun should be subject to having their right to carry taken away by the state or, eventually, from the federal government. We, in America, have the right to bear arms, despite our financial status or the amount of debt owed to the government or private corporations. We must fight to restore our rights against child support enforcement by state and federal governments, or we may look up with all of our rights revoked one day.
References:
Cardona, C. (2013, June 17). Perry signs handful of bills that tweak concealed handgun license, firearm laws | Dallas Morning News. Retrieved from http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2013/06/perry-signs-handful-of-gun-bills-that-tweak-chl-laws.html/
Cornell University Law School. (n.d.). Annotated Constitution Prototype. Retrieved from http://www.law.cornell.edu/anncon/html/amdt2_user.html
The Daily Caller. (2014, December 17). Virginia: Governor McAuliffe Announces Next Grab For Your Gun Rights | The Daily Caller. Retrieved from http://dailycaller.com/2014/12/17/virginia-governor-mcauliffe-announces-next-grab-for-your-gun-rights/
McCarthy, C. (2013, July 11). Illinois concealed carry: Carrying guns in public is legal in all 50 states, and the NRA doesn’t want us to know what that really means. Retrieved from http://www.slate.com/blogs/crime/2013/07/11/illinois_concealed_carry_carrying_guns_in_public_is_legal_in_all_50_states.html
National Conference of State Legislatures. (2014, January 30). License Restrictions for Failure to Pay Child Support. Retrieved from http://www.ncsl.org/research/human-services/license-restrictions-for-failure-to-pay-child-support.aspx
Texas Department of Public Safety. (n.d.). TxDPS – CHL FAQs. Retrieved from http://dps.texas.gov/RSD/CHL/faqs/index.htm
United States Government Accountability Office. (2012, July). Gun Control States’ laws and Requirements for Concealed carry permits vary across the Nation. Retrieved from http://www.gao.gov/assets/600/592552.pdf