by Pedro Vazquez

Created on: August 30, 2009   Last Updated: September 01, 2009

This topic is very important to me. I am an ex-felon and I think that the laws should change about ex-felons owning guns. The Constitution states that everyone has the right to bear arms. It doesn't say anything about once you go to jail you lose your rights. I understand that maybe if you live in a city where the Constitution is being taught and the people growing up there know the consequences then it's understandable to take their rights away after it being violated. But what if you're living in a city that in the schools there is no teaching about our rights and what happens if someone loses them, then how can one be punished if there was not knowledge on what they're doing?

I live in Camden City, New Jersey and violence is very much an every day situation out here in these streets. Every one is trying to feel safe in a place were safety isn't a priority to our politicians, cops and law makers. Mostly the people that I grew around were in the same predicament that I was in. Guns are every where. I was locked up for a weapons offense and not until then was when I knew about our Constitution. Going to school I was never taught about it and even if I was it must of been at a quick glance.

Where I live there's crime daily and having a gun is beneficial if you're trying to keep your family safe. I did 3 years for my gun charge and about 2 years parole. I think that once I paid for my crime that I shouldn't have been punished again by taking my rights away. At the time of my arrest I was stopped in the car for a traffic violation which I gave the police officer permission to check my vehicle. They found the gun under my seat and a couple of months after I started to do my time. Does this sound like a person who should be stripped of his rights? Well I don't and I think that I should have my rights back to bear arms.

My city's job of informing our citizens about guns hasn't changed much since then but the crime and violence are at a higher level then ever before. If at a time in my life I needed a gun, now would be it but because of our laws it has prevented for me to carry protection. I don't get it.

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