A couple of times a day, I’m looking for stories. As a result, I tend to see a lot of the same kinds of things each and every day. I see letters to the editor all about how some given area totally needs gun control. I see others on why that same area doesn’t need it. I see crime reports and op-eds and everything else under the sun, all about the issue of gun rights and gun control.
But today, I saw something different.
It’s an attorney who took keyboard to talk about how not to lose your gun rights in Idaho, and while he focuses on that state, some of what he suggests is applicable across the nation.
The easiest way to lose your gun rights, under both federal and state law, is to be convicted of a felony. Generally speaking, if incarceration in prison, as opposed to county jail, is an option at time of sentencing, the crime is a felony.
One thing to keep in mind is that a “conviction” occurs at the time you are found guilty, not at the time the judgment of conviction enters, which is commonly months later. Additionally, a “withheld judgment” still counts as a conviction.
Unfortunately, the only tips for avoiding losing your gun rights after being charged with a felony are to (a) avoid being convicted of the felony, either by fighting it or cutting a deal for a misdemeanor, or (b) convincing the prosecutor to amend the charge to one of a select few white-collar felonies described in section 921(20)(A) of Title 18, United States Code.
Another way to lose your gun rights, albeit only under federal law, is to be convicted of a “misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.” And contrary to what many practitioners believe, pleading to battery, as opposed to domestic battery, will not preserve your gun rights if the battery was, in fact, against a person with whom you have a qualifying domestic relationship.
Notably, the federal list of qualifying relationships is broader than the list contained in the Idaho Code.
For instance, under Idaho law, neither a dating relationship nor a parent-child relationship can transform a battery into a domestic battery. But those relationships count for purposes of federal law. To add to the confusion, being in a domestic relationship need not be an element of the state-level misdemeanor.
Go and read the whole piece for a list of some suggested charges–which may or may not be available in your state, so talk to an attorney before you do anything at all–for pleading down a charge.
Look, I don’t want to see a domestic abuser walking around, continuing to beat his signficant other, and not really facing repercussions for it.
However, I’ve also seen people charged with assault for grabbing an arm, not recognizing it as a crime. I don’t want to see a mistake like that get someone jammed up and them losing their gun rights forever because of it. If that person can avoid that, I’d prefer them to. Some kind of corrective action might be warranted, but not life-altering action.
Of course, my own take is that if a crime is so heinous that a person should be stripped of their gun rights forever, it should have been made a felony and everyone just call it a day. Alas, that’s not what happens.
Should you end up in that kind of unfortunate situation, pleading to a lesser charge might be a wise way to keep your gun rights.
Just don’t keep doing that, because a mistake must be learned from. Otherwise, it becomes a pattern.
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Read the full article here
