Huff and Puff Questions Gun Owners Bankruptcy Act

It is pretty much a known fact that if you file for bankruptcy that many of your possessions are safe from repossession. One category of items that have not been safe are guns, and while Ohio Representative John Boccieri introduced legislation that would protect a gun owner, the Huffington Post of course is in a huff and puff about it.

Josh Sugarmann, executive director of the Violence Policy Center in Washington, D.C. looks at the reasons why guns shouldn’t be protected. He of course cites the usual silly reasons, such as the fact that someone facing bankruptcy might commit suicide or do something equally stupid. What’s next, stopping someone facing bankruptcy from buying a rope because they might hang themselves?

Sugarmann pulls out a few choice examples of tragedies, but in a time when many home owners are under water in their mortgages and the housing market is still very bleak, we aren’t seeing that many widespread incidents. What Sugarmann doesn’t note is that many firearms have collectible value, so if someone really needed the money the owner should have the opportunity to sell it at a fair market value. This is one of the things that The Protecting Gun Owners in Bankruptcy Act of 2010 is there to ensure.
 
Consider this, jewelry – such as an engagement ring or class ring for example – would be exempt. So why shouldn’t someone’s guns? For one thing, as Rep. Boccieri further notes, guns are protected by the Second Amendment (at least for now), while there is no provision to ensure someone the right to own a diamond ring. If values are protected from repossession by bankruptcy laws, then we feel guns should be as well.