Sweet Jesus, Ma-Duece!
Posted on 06/29/2006 10:22:18 AM PDT by Redcloak
Supreme Court Says Muzzleloaders are Legally Firearms
Cheyenne- Posted 6/28/06
Associated Press
The ruling comes in an appeal by a convicted felon who says he thought he was allowed to own a black powder rifle. Such rifles are excluded from the federal definition of firearms.
A spokesman for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department says the ruling will come as a blow to some Wyoming residents who have felony convictions in the past but who are now dedicated black powder hunters.
Governor Freudenthal says he would favor changing the state law to allow convicted felons to continue to hunt with black powder guns.
The court ruling released Wednesday upholds the conviction of Frank Alan Harris in a Casper court on a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
According to the court ruling, Harris was previously convicted of aggravated robbery and robbery.
Name another right they lose.
Name another Bill Of Rights right they lose.
civil rights are not Constitutionally protected.
The felonious act is a serious breach of the individual's relationship to the rest of society. Spending a little time getting his three hots and a cot doesn't repair that breach.
I'm sure the British Regulars considered the Massachussets Militia to be not much more than "Gang-bangers". ;)
I know. I don't think the practice is just.
Until 1968 you could order any shotgun, rifle or pistol through the mail...
That and needing to purchase from an FFL or go through one if you buy one on the internet.
No free man shall be debarred the use of arms.
A feel-good and immoral law.
Ping
I wonder if you will no longer be able to mail order blackpower weapons without going through and FFL?
Sweet Jesus, Ma-Duece!
It is a myth that the law regulating ( planned evolution toward prohibition) firearms purchases prohibits felons from having firearms. At best , it just makes it more expensive for them to get a firearm.
Meanwhile the rest of us will have to use archery as a defense tool.
I am working on my spear technique as we speak, and have started accumulating swords.
I don't think that anyone here has made that argument. The only practical use these laws have is to provide an excuse to lock up a felon when he's caught with a gun. The question at hand is: "Should these felons be locked up?"
For the historical value. I'd love to have a Martini-Henry rifle from the time of the Zulu Wars. Who knows, it might even be one which saw action at the Battle of Rourke's Drift.
Heck, I'd like to have one of every military small arm used in the past 250 years, working or not.
My preference would be to forbid them any modern firearms ever, except in the rarest and most worthy cases. Muzzle loaders ought to be permitted after they have served their time and then successfully completed a period of five to seven years without any further run-ins with the law.
This would be fair to minor felons in rural states, most of whom would find it an incentive to stay on the straight and narrow. The gang-bangers would never bother with muzzle loaders, and would be treated even more harshly when they are inevitably convicted for felon-in-posession the next time.
-ccm
One nice thing about muzzleloaders being exempt from federal law is that hobbyists can (and do) make their own from scratch. Muzzleloading cannons fit into the same classification and I've built three (my favorite was turned from 1-5/8" ID x 3-1/4" OD steel machine tubing and it's gotten regular Independence Day usage - with a tomato paste can of black powder). My biggest bore is a mortar that will shoot a 12" long x 9" diameter log to good effect.
Amen. It smacks of the "3/5ths of a citizen" notion to deprive rights from someone who has presumably fulfilled their sentence for breaking the law. Those old notions of subservience to the state/king are hard to shake. The Revolution, Civil War and the Civil Rights Act just haven't quite purified those old-world ideas from our government.
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