The Supreme Court is taking up a case that pits property rights against
firearm regulations, with the justices poised to decide what becomes of a
person's guns after they are convicted of a crime. The case,
Henderson v. United States, is among three new cases the high court has agreed to hear this term, according to
orders handed down Monday. It centers on Tony Henderson, a former U.S. Border Patrol agent who was
charged with selling marijuana in 2006, and later convicted of a felony.
Federal law prohibits felons from possessing firearms, and
Henderson turned 15 personal weapons over to the FBI while his case was
pending. Two years later, he submitted a bill of sale to the
FBI, indicating that he had sold the guns to another man and asked the
FBI to transfer them accordingly. The government refused, reasoning that
doing so would amount to granting “constructive possession” of the guns
to Henderson. By denying his sale of the guns, the government is trampling on his
property rights, his lawyers argued in a petition seeking Supreme Court
review of the case. “It allows the government — based on a
statutory prohibition on mere possession — to bypass formal forfeiture
procedures and effectively strip gun owners of their entire ownership
interest in significant, lawful household assets following a conviction
for an unrelated offense,” petitioners say...
more
No comments:
Post a Comment