Oops. I thought I had included this paragraph in my last comment on this case. It’s so important that I’m going to post again.
“In sum, we reject the Government’s contention that only
“law-abiding, responsible citizens” are counted among “the
people” protected by the Second Amendment. Heller and its
progeny lead us to conclude that Bryan Range remains among
“the people” despite his 1995 false statement conviction. “
Another part of the ruling:
Founding-era laws often prescribed the forfeiture of the weapon used to commit a firearms-related offense without affecting the perpetrator’s right to keep and bear arms generally. See, e.g., Act of Dec. 21, 1771, ch. 540, N.J. Laws 343–344 (“An Act for the Preservation of Deer, and other Game, and to prevent trespassing with Guns”); Act of Apr. 20, 1745, ch. 3, N.C. Laws 69–70 (“An Act to prevent killing deer at unseasonable times, and for putting a stop to many abuses committed by white persons, under pretence of hunting”). Range’s crime, however—making a false statement on an application for food stamps—did not involve a firearm, so there was no criminal instrument to forfeit. And even if there were, government confiscation of the instruments of crime (or a convicted criminal’s entire estate) differs from a status-based lifetime ban on firearm possession.
The Government has not cited a single statute or case that precludes a convict who has served his sentence from purchasing the same type of object that he used to commit a crime. Nor has the Government cited forfeiture cases in which the convict was prevented from regaining his possessions, including firearms (except where forfeiture preceded execution). That’s true whether the object forfeited to the government was a firearm used to hunt out of season, a car used to transport cocaine, or a mobile home used 21 as a methamphetamine lab. And of those three, only firearms are mentioned in the Bill of Rights.10
Judge Hardiman and his clerks have researched and thought through this case well very well indeed.