Wyoming becomes target of gun control battle

[MrTitleist]

Thoughts? Story below is from the Northern Wyoming Daily News:


Wyoming gun lawsuit
attracts national attention

CHEYENNE (AP) — 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.

Gun control advocates have joined the fray, arguing that, because the record isn’t wiped clean, Wyoming is violating federal law by allowing people convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence to obtain guns.

For Wyoming and gun-rights supporters, the issue is whether the federal government can dictate to states who can have a gun.

“The (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) 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,” attorneys on behalf of Wyoming argued in court papers this summer.

The federal agency told the state that if its law stayed on the books, they would no longer recognize more than 10,000 Wyoming concealed weapons permits as a substitute for federal background checks for firearms purchases. Such background checks are required under the federal Brady Act.

The state sued the federal agency last year. This summer, U.S. District Judge Alan Johnson ruled in favor of the agency and Wyoming has appealed the case to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.

This week, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives filed its response to the appeal.

“As the district court explained, the term ‘expungement’ is ordinarily understood to refer to the removal of all consequences of a conviction,” federal lawyers wrote.

The Wyoming law specifies that in order for a conviction to be expunged, it must not have involved the use of a firearm. Offenders also may only expunge their record once. Prosecutors and the petitioner’s original victim must be notified when the expungement petitions are filed in court.

The National Rifle Association and the Gun Owners Foundation, both pro-gun groups based in Washington, filed briefs in support of the state’s position in the trial court. The foundation has filed a brief in the appeals court, but a spokeswoman for the NRA said this week that her group hasn’t decided whether it would do so.

[pokerupfront]

Sheeeeeeeeeeute! We already know how to control our guns here, as good or gooder than anyone!