[where's_the_Outrage?]

During a G. Gordon Liddy show years ago, he had a very technical discussion on reloading and powder combinations for handguns.

The next day a caller asked how he as a convicted felon could have guns?

Liddy replied "You've correct, I'm not allowed to own firearms, but Mrs. Liddy owns 26 handguns, and stores some on my side of the bed."

[wardaddy]

Liddy is lucky.

If his wife has those guns in the open then he is guilty of constructive possession by the Feds.

A felon according to the 1968GCA used to have two options federally after parole. He could apply to the BATF for a waiver....that was written into the 1968 law or he could get a waiver from a sitting Federal judge. I have seen numerous instances of both. In 1994(?), mainly Pubbies in Congress pushed to cut off funding to the BATF for waiver review and have not refunded it since. Last year SCOTUS ruled that judges may no longer grant waivers, that by doing so they were circumventing Congress.

Hence...there is no recourse and we have already disenfranchised the gun rights of nearly 20% of adult males...often for non violent felonies like drugs and even some misdemeanors.

The current Federal sentencing minimum for gun possession by a felon is 3 years and up....up rapidly btw all the way to life in certain sensational cases. There is no parole.

[Ancesthntr]

Liddy was trained as an attorney (and, although being convicted of a felony automatically gets you disbarred, he's claimed that there's one state where he's licensed that hasn't done so). He is also very far from stupid - not even his worst detractors make that claim. As such, he's been very upfront for many years that his wife owns all of the guns in his house. Any attempt to arrest him as a felon in possession of guns would lead to large BATF budget cuts, as they would be made fools of nationally. He'd become a great folk hero.

As stated earlier, he (and any other convicted felon) can legally go out and buy pre-1899 firearms, because they are specifically defined as non-firearms under the '68 GCA. For that reason, anyone can buy such weapons without a NICS check, wouldn't have to go through an FFL, and wouldn't fill out a 4473. Oh, and only the receiver needs to have been manufactured pre-1899 - you can get a new barrel, trigger job, etc. if that's what you want to do. The only problem is that the number of such guns in decent shape in calibers that still have ammo produced for them is quite limited - but they are out there.

It wouldn't surprise me to learn that "Mrs. Liddy" also owns quite a number of Class 3 weapons. I would doubt that any home invader short of the entire 82nd Airborne Division would get out of their house with a detectable heartbeat.

Liddy is the kind of guy that makes me believe that our system is utterly unjust - he did commit a crime (several, actually), and he properly served time and went through parole as punishment - in other words, he paid his debt to society. He is no longer a physical danger to anyone - if he ever was - who doesn't first attack him or his family. He is now reformed - he hasn't (to my knowledge) committed any crimes since those he was convicted of, and he engages in a productive activity that supports him and his family, to say nothing of putting lots of dollars into various governments' coffers. He seems to be the ideal ex-con, yet our system says that this man has no right to defend himself against an attacker with the most effect means available. While I wouldn't want to take him on if I had a machine gun and he was unarmed now, what happens when he's 80 and (relative to his condition now) feeble - what's he supposed to do if some 24-year-old guy who weighs 260 pounds attacks him or his family? The system sucks, and for Liddy's sake I hope that his wife outlives him, so that he'll always have guns "stored" nearby.