Posted on 08/21/2007 10:26:19 PM PDT by neverdem
Associated Press
CHEYENNE - The state of Wyoming says the federal agency that enforces gun laws was wrong to reject a state law that seeks to allow people convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence to regain their firearms rights in the state courts.
Wyoming this week filed its opening brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Denver, challenging a ruling issued in May by U.S. District Judge Alan Johnson of Cheyenne.
Johnson ruled against the state's claim that the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arbitrarily rejected a 2004 state law allowing people convicted of domestic violence to petition in state court to restore their gun rights.
The federal agency had warned Wyoming that if it continued to allow people with such domestic violence convictions to buy guns, the agency would no longer recognize more than 10,000 concealed-carry permits issued by the state as a substitute for federal background checks for firearms purchases. Congress in 1996 expanded the law that bans convicted felons from owning guns to apply to people convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence.
Although states have the ability to expunge convictions, Wyoming's law specified that convictions could be removed for purposes of restoring firearms rights yet remain intact for purposes of enhancing punishment for any subsequent conviction.
Johnson ruled that the BATF has the authority to determine whether a state law is insufficient to remove a federal prohibition against a person carrying firearms.
The Wyoming Attorney General's Office issues concealed-carry permits for firearms in the state. Attorney General Pat Crank has said he's aware of one person who has obtained a concealed carry permit after having a misdemeanor conviction expunged.
In its brief filed this week, Crank's office states that the BATF is trying to circumvent federal law.
The state argues that Congress has specified that states should be able to set up their own systems of restoring gun rights to people convicted of domestic violence by erasing the disqualifying conviction.
"The BATF is attempting to administratively undo what Congress has legislatively done," the AG's brief states. "The BATF simply does not agree, on a policy basis, with the Wyoming Legislature's decision and has self-appointed itself the omnipotent role of deciding who should, and should not, possess firearms."
Crank didn't immediately respond to a telephone message left at his office Friday.
In past interviews, Crank has emphasized that state judges and prosecutors carefully scrutinize all petitions from people convicted of domestic violence who ask to have their gun rights restored. This week's legal brief from the state says the restoration process "is not some reckless, haphazard procedure."
Wyoming's legal challenge has drawn attention on both sides of the gun-control debate nationwide. The National Rifle Association weighed in supporting the state's position in Johnson's court. The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence in Washington, D.C., applauded Johnson's ruling in May.
Daniel Vice, senior attorney at the Brady Center, said Friday that his group continues to follow the state's case.
"We believe that the state and the gun lobby should not be trying to make it easier for domestic violence abusers to get dangerous weapons like firearms," Vice said.
"This case could be important nationwide, because it's a real concern whether the federal government will be allowed to do its job and enforce the law to prevent dangerous people from getting guns. And if Wyoming is able to skirt the law and enable dangerous people to get guns, then other states could do that too, at the behest of the gun lobby."
Ashley Varner, a spokeswoman for the NRA in Fairfax, Va., said Friday that she would look into whether the group intends to stay involved in the case at the appellate level. She didn't immediately respond with word of the NRA's position.
About damn time.
Just further proof that a right that requires a license or permit is no right!
And while I'm discussing the idiocy of inane, meaningless, revenue-enhancing background checks, hands up all you who truly believe that if I buy a gun today and one next week and every week thereafter, that my personal background will change week to week. I mean, pure bullcrap. Background checks should be done annually at most. But then, we shouldn't have background checks at all. Anyone you can't trust with a firearm ought to be locked up and throw away the key!
I suppose it is no coincidence that the NICS center is located in Robert Byrd’s state.
IIRC, Wyoming has tried to go for the right for concealed carry without permits, like Alaska and Vermont, but it only passed in one of the two houses in the state legislature.
Regardless, NICS is an un-Constitutional infringement, and the Lautenberg Amendment is an ex post facto statute.
Texas Statute Renumbered 9/1/94 from 46.05
Sec. 46.04. UNLAWFUL POSSESSION OF FIREARM BY FELON.
(a) A person who has been convicted of a felony commits an offense if he possesses a firearm:
(1) after conviction and before the fifth anniversary of the person's release from confinement following conviction of the felony or the person's release from supervision under community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision, whichever date is later; or
(2) after the period described by Subdivision (1), at any location other than the premises at which the person lives.
(b) An offense under this section is a felony of the third degree.
Something here doesn’t seem right. The population of Wyoming is slightly over 500,000. And yet a figure of 10,000 is given as the number of concealed carry permits that would be void because of a misdemeanor DV conviction. If every person in the state had a permit, that means that 2% of the population has a DV conviction. Clearly, every person does not have a concealed weapons permit - let’s say 25% of the population does (and I think that may be high), but then the percentage of gun carriers convicted of DV becomes 12.5%. If gun carriers commit DV as the same rate as non-gun carriers, that means that 62500 people have been convicted of DV - I don’t buy the numbers. I think they’ve inflated them in order to overstate their case, and should be called on it. Personally, I don’t think people convicted of DV should be allowed to carry - misdemeanor or felony. Flame away.
"The federal agency had warned Wyoming that if it continued to allow people with such domestic violence convictions to buy guns, the agency would no longer recognize more than 10,000 concealed-carry permits issued by the state as a substitute for federal background checks for firearms purchases. Congress in 1996 expanded the law that bans convicted felons from owning guns to apply to people convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence."
Go to sleep, or get some coffee. Then read it again.
“..endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.”
“...the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”
The matter lies purely between human beings and their Creator, and The State has no say except as it promotes tyranny. End of story.
Divorce lawyers now include this crap as part of their boilerplate, to gain extra leverage. Scum.
Men, if you’re going to get divorced, there’s a great chance of losing your RKBA via these skanky shennanigans.
At least one state of the Union remembers the true definition of Federalism.
Double tap bump!
Double tap bump!
You can say that again.
If this happens Wyoming should open a state owned gun dealership and start selling weapons without a 4473 just to piss off the feds.
Ah - I think I see. What this is saying is that there are 10,000 concealed permits in the whole state, and because the state has refused to adopt the federal standard, none would be recognized.
Bear with me. I know it's an AP story. Maybe you need another cup of coffee?
It seems to me that having a concealed carry license in Wyoming made a NICS check unnecessary if someone wanted to buy a new firearm from a FFL dealer. It appears to me that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives is saying that Wyoming can't provide a relief from NICS disability due to the Lautenberg Amendment just because Wyoming has granted a concealed carry permit in spite of a misdemeanor domestic violence conviction, IMHO.
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