Ownership of Firearms without Serial Numbers: Case Appealed to Fourth Circuit

AmmoLand ^ | November 18, 2022 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

The ground-breaking case of USA v. Randy Price has been appealed to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. The notice of appeal was filed on October 24, 2022. The appointment of a federal public defender was made on October 26, 2022.

The Fourth Circuit appointed the Federal Defender for the Southern District of West Virginia to represent Randy Price in this case.

Presumably, this is the same attorney who represented Price in the District Court, Wesley P. Page, Federal Public Defender s/Lex  A Coleman, WV Bar No. 10484.

The case was discussed in a previous article on AmmoLand.

The potential for strengthening Second Amendment Protections, in this case, are notable and important. This case has a few implications for criminal action in the United States.

The law found unconstitutional in this case, 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(k), was not formed until 1990. It is late law, constitutionally, and has no significant historical precedence.

The suspect in this case, Randy Price, may not be the person most sympathetic. Price is a convicted felon. He is prohibited from possessing firearms, by federal law.

The District Judge, Joseph R. Goodwin, found the arguments to declare the law prohibiting possession of a firearms whose serial number had been removed, to be unconstitutional, and persuasive, given the guidance of the Bruen decision on the Second Amendment by the Supreme Court.

Judge Goodwin found the prohibition of a felon possessing firearms to be constitutional under the Bruen decision.

Under this decision, a felon is barred from legally possessing firearms under federal law.

People who may legally possess a firearm may not be prosecuted for possessing a firearm that has had the serial number altered or removed.

Federal law forbids the creation of a federal registration system.

[Mr. Blond]

3D printers go BRRRRRRRR!

[marktwain]

You need not remove an entire serial number for legal purposes.

If a person would drill and tap a hole which takes out a couple of numbers, it would likely suffice for legal purposes, especially if it were in the middle of a sequence.

[Smokin' Joe]

Possession means holding it in your hand.

At 16, I had already been hunting for seven years.

I got my first deer at 11.

But then, I grew up in the sticks, well outside of town.