Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Unanimous SCOTUS Decision on Felons and Guns

ruling here

Tony Henderson, a firearms owner, was convicted of marijuana possession. Accordingly, he became a "prohibited person" and could no longer possess his firearms. The government required him to turn over all his firearms, which he did.

But Tony wanted to turn the arms over to a sales agent or other person, so he could turn them back into cash or, hypothetically, pass them on this his children.

SCOTUS today ruled unanimously the the government had to turn the guns over. So long as the owner does not have possession or control, he can have title.

To be fair, the outcome of this case was pretty obvious from the day of the oral presentations, which went very poorly for the government.

Awesome, chalk one up for the good guys, not that this one is good... oh hell you know what I mean.

I'd say lesson learned but I know it isn't.

BTW, the author of the opinion was Justice Kagan.

Keeping weapons out of the hands of criminals proved its worth in Waco this weekend.




Travis

I remember when people "paid their debt to society" and their rights were restored.
I guess that debt can no longer be paid in full.

Ernie

Surprising.

If the girls aren't careful they might be branded as right wing radicals.

Ernie, there IS a provision by which one's ordinary rights CAN be restored, but it's not very simple, and it involves filing a plea for restoration. But it CAN be done, at least hypothetically. It usually involves the advice and counsel of local law officers advocating for it, so that the politicians involved don't wind up with egg on their face and nowhere else to blame things on if something comes up in the future - a real consideration for them, since they very rarely know the plaintiff in the plea. FWIW.

I know a guy that got poped for less than a gram of coke in the 80's. Got his gun rights back last year, at least according to the sate. I don't know if the feds signed off on it or not.

Ernie

As far as I know, right now getting gun rights back at the state level varies state by state - each state has the ability to decide how to do that.

At the federal level, there's no way to get your gun rights back due to Congress defunding the process - and the process was broken before it was defunded anyway.

http://legalinsurrection.com/2015/04/nra-firearms-law-seminar-restoration-of-gun-rights/



Also note that you can lose your gun rights at a federal level due to a misdemeanor, and in many states the gun rights restoration process only covers felonies. So in that case.. you're SOL. The state can't restore what they didn't take away, and the federal process is broken. So, presidential pardon or a lot of money to take it to court.

I remember when people went to prison after committing a bunch of felonies.

Catch and release pays better.

And stayed, until their sentence was served.

Right. It gives a lot more government employees jobs.

The biggest bass tournament of them all.

Agreed, and it pays better for the defense attorneys, too. More cops, more arrests, more convictions, greater turn over in prisons while maintaining the contractually guaranteed occupancy rates, more defense cases, more parole bonds, etc.

"Everyone wins", right?

Well, except for the citizens/servants/taxpayers/serfs/victims/prey, right?

More probation/parole officers, more courts, more rehabs, more social workers...........

of course that does not include politicians

Yep. The "criminal justice" industry is pretty damned profitable, especially when the taxpayers are footing most of the bill.

Helluva scam, when you think about it.

I've seen it with my own eyes. Before the "War on Drugs", people actually went to jail for committing crimes.