Wyoming Lawsuit Setting a Precedent
Aug 20th 2007Scott2nd Amendment & Wyoming
Saw this while perusing the Politics West blog. If you just read the opening paragraphs, you’d be inclined to say the Wyoming law is bad, but if you read the whole thing, particularly the part I’m about to quote, Wyoming is doing well by appealing:
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.
In his ruling, 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. [Outgoing] Attorney General Pat Crank has said that 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.“
Well, sounds like our outgoing AG is trying to gain approval ratings since the appeal will likely not occur or be resolved by Sept 1. At any rate, I tend to agree with the soon-to-be former AG on this. If all of one person has been granted restoration of his/her right-to-carry, it’s not like the AG office is just handing out permits left and right to whomever petitions.
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 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,” Vice said. “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.”
If dangerous people are so dangerous they can’t have a gun, maybe they should be locked up for a while more until they are no longer dangerous? If they are that dangerous, is a law really going to prevent them from getting a gun? I think not. Adam was not all that dangerous (in fact, he was perfect) and he still ate the one fruit God directly told him not to. Besides, it’s not like guns are the only dangerous things out there. Why not oppose the following for dangerous people:
- Knives and all other sharp objects
- Heavy objects (hammers, rocks, bricks, etc…)
- Flammable materials (solid and liquid)
- Rope and other restraining materials
- Vehicles
- Anything else that may be dangerous for dangerous people
That should about cover it and we could finally have the big government bureaucracy that the anti-gun commis really want. It could be funded by a $50 dollar tax on tobacco and trans fats. Then Wyoming could secede, manage wolves, keep the East Gate open, etc…
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