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Posted on 03/31/2014 2:54:44 PM PDT by neverdem
Since 1996, the so-called "Lautenberg Amendment" (named for its sponsor, Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)), has banned the acquisition or possession of firearms by anyone convicted of a "misdemeanor crime of domestic violence." Applicable crimes are limited to those that have "as an element, the use or attempted use of physical force, or the threatened use of a deadly weapon" and that are committed by persons with a specified relationship to the victim, such as a current or former spouse or a parent. The prohibition applies no matter when the offense occurred and can include convictions that predated the 1996 law.
Over the years, federal appellate courts have differed on what degree of "physical force" is necessary to trigger the disability. Questions have also arisen over whether a conviction could count if it occurred under a statute that covered both acts requiring force and those that did not (such as simply scaring the victim). Thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling last Wednesday in United States v. Castleman(PDF), one of these questions has now been resolved in a way that gives the federal prohibition its broadest possible reading.
James Alvin Castleman was convicted in Tennessee of "having intentionally or knowingly caused bodily injury" to his child's mother. The statute in question could be violated in three separate ways: (1) intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causing bodily injury to another; (2) intentionally or knowingly causing another reasonably to fear imminent bodily injury; or (3) intentionally or knowingly causing physical contact with another in a manner that a reasonable person would regard as extremely offensive or provocative (whether or not injury resulted). The "injury" requirement of the first offense type was broadly defined to include a cut, abrasion, bruise, burn, disfigurement, physical pain, or temporary impairment of a bodily member, organ, or mental faculty. Thus, the statute could be violated with no physical force whatsoever or very minor, non-injurious physical force.
Castleman claimed that his conviction did not trigger the federal disability, because Congress only meant to prohibit those convicted of domestic violence. Thus, he claimed, the only statutes that could count were those that could only be violated by committing violent (or more than nominal) physical force. A statute that could be violated by mere offensive touching (pushing, shoving, poking, grabbing, etc.) should not count.
The Court disagreed and found that as long as the statute required some degree of offensive physical contact for a violation to occur, a conviction under that statute would trigger the federal disability. It did not, however, reach the question of whether broad statutes like Tennessee's, which could be violated with or without force, would always be counted. This was because Castleman had admitted he was convicted under the most demanding test of the statute, that requiring actual physical injury. The Court reasoned that any injury, no matter how slight, must require the use of at least some "physical force."
The Court provided a number of rationales for its holding. It reasoned, for example, that that "domestic violence" is not violence in the commonly understood sense but in the broader sense of an accumulation of acts over time that established one person's control over another. Thus, it could include not just injurious abuse but more minor physical acts including hitting, slapping, shoving, pushing, grabbing, pinching, scratching, shaking, twisting, spitting, or restraining. The Court acknowledged that "most physical assaults committed against women and men by intimates are minor …." Nevertheless, it also opined, "If a seemingly minor act like this draws the attention of authorities and leads to a successful prosecution for a misdemeanor offense, it does not offend common sense or the English language to characterize the resulting conviction as a 'misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.'"
Importantly, the Court did not resolve the important question of whether so broad an application of the statute (and the resulting lifetime loss of the right to acquire and possess firearms) would violate the Second Amendment. Essentially, it ruled that question was not properly before it and would have to be resolved in another case.
Besides applying to a broader range of convictions in the future, this ruling also means that prior convictions will become subject to the new rule in those jurisdictions that had embraced a narrower reading of the federal statute. Federally licensed dealers are thus being notified that some customers who had formerly passed NICS checks may now be subject to denials.
The Court's interpretation of the statute is final and authoritative. It can now only be changed by Congress. Whether that will happen or whether a Second Amendment challenge will be brought to a broad application of the statute are questions only time will tell.
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PS. Gang enforcers and child rapists are great examples of people who should never be let out.
Like a lot of silly statements, your little bumper sticker slogan is meaningless.
Having a 100% either total release, or no release, is silly.
I wonder if you have closely known a lot of violent felons in your private life, they tend to have issues, including temper, and impulse issues, it is how they get convicted of felony attempts to kill and maim, and while we have to take risks to avoid holding them forever, we can try to minimize those risks, by keeping them away from conditions we think can make the risk of releasing them early, less risky, whether it is guns, freedom of association, and other things.
This means moslem men can`t have guns.
Charges that stick and the level of convictions, may interfere with your plan of ironclad, mandatory sentences.
Violent felons are one thing, the topic of this thread is that gun rights can now be taken away for NON-felony offenses, like even getting into a yelling argument.
You should read the thread before you post, at least read the post that I was responding to, it included violent felons.
Post 9 described either in, or out of prison, no in between.
This would then make everyone a violator, and therefore prohibited from firearms.
Infringed —
Is that someone wearing a leather jacket with slitted decorative tassels on the sleeves?
Sounds kind of gay.
Possession of arms being necessary and vital for the Federal Government to exercise it's sovereign authority over it's citizens,the right of the Federal Government shall along with it's designated agents and authorized government subsidiaries ability to have sole monopoly of arms shall not be infringed.
Otherwise, note that modern federal gun regulations for civilians seem to have originated from the time of Constitution-ignoring socialist FDR.
Franklin Roosevelt: The Father of Gun Control
And since most of us were born into the unconstitutionally big federal government chaos created by FDR, I think that we tend to mistakenly think that all federal laws are constitutional, as opposed to being suspicious of constitutionally indefensible federal laws made by corrupt federal lawmakers.
Again, ignoring the 2nd Amendment for the reason previously stated, what constitutional clause(s) are reasonably construed as a delegation of power to Congress to regulate firearms on property not owned by the federal government in contrast to the federal properties indicated in Clauses 7 & 17 of Section 8 of Article I and the 5th Amendment? I cannot find any. Corrections welcome.
Note that delegated constitutional powers are extremely important, particularly where our 2nd Amendment protections are concerned. This is because the Supreme Court has historically clarified that the 10th Amendment is reasonably construed as indicating that powers not expressly delegated to the federal government via the Constitution are prohibited.
”From the accepted doctrine that the United States is a government of delegated powers, it follows that those not expressly granted, or reasonably to be implied from such as are conferred, are reserved to the states, or to the people. To forestall any suggestion to the contrary, the Tenth Amendment was adopted. The same proposition, otherwise stated, is that powers not granted are prohibited (emphasis added). None to regulate agricultural production is given, and therefore legislation by Congress for that purpose is forbidden.” —United States v. Butler, 1936..
Do we let them have knives? Baseball bats? Automobiles? Cans of gasoline?
One of the greatest mass-murders in the history of this country was committed with a can of gasoline and a match.
Yep. The nine political hacks in black muumuus are weighing in again. Screwing over everyone they can in the process. As usual.
Oh, well if a a mass killer used gasoline, and a man can be stabbed with a kitchen knife, that just changes everything.
Nice post but it proceeds from an erroneous assumption: that the Constitution matters worth a hill of beans to the kakistocracy.
Do you have an alternate version of that that makes sense?
I was mocking your lame argument to remove guns from consideration of early release and probation for violent felons.
Exactly right. A belt can do great harm. So they should ban possession of belts. Same goes for hammers and bottles. Of course the Constitution makes no statement regarding our right to bear belts, hammers and bottles; hence the focus on removing our stated rights, namely arms. It's all about making the Constitution irrelevant.
If a convicted felon can’t be trusted with a gun, then they can’t be trusted with a knife or any other weapon, and shouldn’t be walking around free.
Gee, you just repeated the post I was responding to, post 9, thanks for starting all over again.
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