OFF THE WIRE
A
Texas man who served for 20 years in the U.S. Army after being
convicted for a minor drug charge in 1971 was turned away from a local
Walmart after attempting to purchase a .22-caliber rifle and failing a
Federal background check for his 42 year-old offense.
According to a report from CBS Houston, Ron Kelly incurred the drug
charge while still in high school and was sentenced to a year of
probation. He enlisted in the Army two years later, and went on to
obtain a top-secret security clearance.“It is amazing that
they won’t let me buy a gun for a misdemeanor 42 years ago,” he told The
Houston Chronicle. “I am ashamed of the way my government has treated
me. The government may have the greatest of intentions with the [law],
but they messed it up.”
A Texas Rifle Association
representative said it was “crazy” that such a minor blemish in the life
of an American veteran – one who went on to fire cannon and machine
guns as a soldier – could place him in the same company with felons and
traitors as one who doesn’t meet the government’s standard for owning a
firearm.
