Gun laws continue to be ridiculous
In North Carolina, 60 people who are not felons went to prison for being felons in possession.
Federal law makes you a prohibited person, felon or no, if you were convicted of something that can land you more than one year in jail.
June 15th, 2012 at 10:22 am
Yes, laws like giving a false name to the police or walking out on a $26 restauraunt tab.
We need to repeal USC Title 18, Section 922(g)(1).
June 15th, 2012 at 3:20 pm
From what I could tell, the major problem wasn’t Federal law, it was with NC’s silly structured sentencing program.
Technically, any felony can get you enough time in the pokey to qualify federally for disqualified status. The problem is that in reality, you have to have multiple priors, a hefty conviction, or be convicted of murder before you will actually get serious jail time.
The lowest crime that has a suggested sentence for a first time offender of 24 months or longer is a Class E felony. These include Malicious Castration, Assault With a Deadly Weapon Inflicting Serious Injury, Assault with a firearm on a law enforcement officer, and 2nd degree kidnapping. There are so many heinous crimes that are Class F or lower that you could commit a many Class I and H felonies as you like and never once face 24 months in jail.
I propose a simple change which will solve this whole problem. If you commit a felony in the State of North Carolina, you get 2 years in jail with no parole. If there are any crimes on the massive list of felonies in North Carolina that the public doesn’t think are deserving of 24 months hard time, we should downgrade them to misdemeanors.
June 15th, 2012 at 3:46 pm
What’s this rule of law thing everyone keeps going on about?
June 15th, 2012 at 10:51 pm
It’s two years that makes you prohibited federally, Uncle, not one.
June 16th, 2012 at 1:36 am
Sorry Diomed but USC section 922(g)(1) defining a prohibited person as one “who has been convicted in any court of, a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year”. So one year plus a day would be enough of a possible sentence to make the convicted legally unable to even touch a firearm or round of ammunition for life!
You were half right in that it’s not one year!
June 18th, 2012 at 3:59 pm
Sorry, Knob Creeker, for being imprecise (I was writing in a Denny’s parking lot). 18 USC 921(a)(20)(b) specifically excludes state misdemeanors with maximum punishments of less than two years imprisonment. So you can answer “yes” to the relevant question on the 4473 (or Form 1 or 4) and still get the firearm, you just have to attach an extra sheet detailing how you’re not prohibited.
Always read the definitions when looking up laws.