The judge reasons that the defendant was not a violent felon. He was convicted previously of carrying a concealed weapon (the felony charge), and has some violent criminal issues in his past that did not rise to felonies.
I think this is probably the right call in this case. Misdemeanors, even violent ones, do not result in a lifetime prohibition on firearms possession. This is appropriate, because denying someone their right to defend themselves is a big deal. It seems that the only felony conviction in this case is for carrying a concealed firearm, not doing anything violently illegal with it. As such, the felony conviction would amount to a catch-22; he can't possess a firearm because he was once caught carrying a concealed firearm.
The decision is as-applied, meaning that the law in general stays in place; only this specific individual's case is thrown out.
We should probably be wary of anti-gun judges trying to throw out some questionable cases to troll for negative PR.
This entry was published Sun Jun 28 10:03:45 CDT 2015 by TriggerFinger
and last updated 2015-06-28 10:03:45.0.
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