The ACLU is doing exactly what they’re supposed to do. Unfortunately.
Now, I’ve been committed to a mental hospital. I can’t buy a gun, even though I am guilty of no crime. That’s fine, I don’t want one, and I would agree with the policy that prevents me even if I did. But that, too, is extrajudicial. That weakens the argument for “due process,” doesn’t it? Countless people have been deprived of this right without ever setting foot in a court.
Generally a person is committed when doctor determines that they pose a substantial risk of danger to themselves or others. This is a good reason to bar someone from purchasing a gun. But when the danger subsides–as determined by a doctor–they are released. They are cleared as safe enough for society, but are still denied what is supposedly a right.
Either we follow due process, or we prevent as many people from buying guns as we legally can. It’s long past time that gun ownership became a privilege, like literally everything else in society is. And it’s long past time that military weapons were banned outright.