Illinois Federal Court Non-Violent Felon regains his gun rights
Plaintiffs lost his rights due to minor paper violation
this is the best part of the opinon
The Government has fallen on their own sword by
relying on these cases: at the time of the founding,
English common-law felonies consisted of murder, rape,
manslaughter, robbery, sodomy, larceny, arson,
mayhem, and burglary. Jerome v. United States, 318
U.S. 101, 108 n.6 (1943); Wayne R. LaFave, Criminal
Law, § 2.1(b) (5th ed. 2010). So if the Founders
intended to allow Congress to disarm unvirtuous felons,
that intent would have necessarily been limited to
individuals convicted of one of those nine felonies.
Hatfield, however, violated a statutory felony that
Congress created in 1948: making a false statement in
breach of 18 U.S.C. § 1001. That offense is most similar
to the common law offense of forgery, which first arose
in 1727 as a misdemeanor—not a felony. Jerome, 318
U.S. at 109 n.7; LaFave, supra.
3
Critics of this approach
may complain that we do not read constitutional rights
this way—for example, the Fourth Amendment
prohibition against unreasonable searches now applies
to electronic devices that the Founders did not
contemplate, and the First Amendment covers forms of
communication that the Founders did not contemplate.
But those scenarios are entirely different: they consider
the expansion of constitutional rights that protect the
people over time, whereas the Government here
is [*14] attempting to shrink Second Amendment rights
of the people.
Plaintiffs lost his rights due to minor paper violation
this is the best part of the opinon
The Government has fallen on their own sword by
relying on these cases: at the time of the founding,
English common-law felonies consisted of murder, rape,
manslaughter, robbery, sodomy, larceny, arson,
mayhem, and burglary. Jerome v. United States, 318
U.S. 101, 108 n.6 (1943); Wayne R. LaFave, Criminal
Law, § 2.1(b) (5th ed. 2010). So if the Founders
intended to allow Congress to disarm unvirtuous felons,
that intent would have necessarily been limited to
individuals convicted of one of those nine felonies.
Hatfield, however, violated a statutory felony that
Congress created in 1948: making a false statement in
breach of 18 U.S.C. § 1001. That offense is most similar
to the common law offense of forgery, which first arose
in 1727 as a misdemeanor—not a felony. Jerome, 318
U.S. at 109 n.7; LaFave, supra.
3
Critics of this approach
may complain that we do not read constitutional rights
this way—for example, the Fourth Amendment
prohibition against unreasonable searches now applies
to electronic devices that the Founders did not
contemplate, and the First Amendment covers forms of
communication that the Founders did not contemplate.
But those scenarios are entirely different: they consider
the expansion of constitutional rights that protect the
people over time, whereas the Government here
is [*14] attempting to shrink Second Amendment rights
of the people.