Federalism
Seems the ATF is not a fan of it:
National groups on both sides of the gun control debate are training their sights on Wyoming.
The state has been waging a legal fight to uphold a 2004 state law that allows people convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence to regain their right to own a firearm by having their record expunged.
Although all states have the authority to restore gun rights, the federal government objected to the Wyoming law. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said it would not recognize the state’s law, arguing convictions were not being truly expunged because they can be used to enhance a sentence in a subsequent case.
Recall also that there are ways to have your record expunged in the eyes of the feds but that the program has never been funded. HR2640 could do a lot if it were amended to require funding for such instances.
October 8th, 2007 at 11:32 am
Those are two different things. There are basically two ways to get your rights restored. One is through the federal relief from disability provision from FOPA, which isn’t funded. The other is to have the criminal record set aside, or expunged at the state level, which in effect restores your firearms rights federally. This whole thing is an argument over whether a conviction that still has any legal effect is actually expunged or set aside. Wyoming argues that FOPA is meant to leave that issue to the states, and the ATF says no way.
At least I think that’s right. Dave Hardy is the real expert on this stuff.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:48 am
2640 won’t do it either, with or without an amendment. How clear must they make their intentions?