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denied shotgun sale at wal-mart

2K views 7 replies 3 participants last post by  Malum Prohibitum 
#1 ·
Hello,
I recently went to wal-mart to purchase a 20 gauge pump shotgun for home security, 1st time doing this ever, Anyway I filled out all the paper work and was delayed and told They'd call me in a couple of days, to make along story short, I made a appeal to the ncic and they responded with a letter saying Quote; A person who has been convicted in any court of crime punishable by imprisonment for a TermExceeding1yror any state offense classified by the state as a misdemeanor and is punishable by a term of imprisonment of more than 2yrs,Well I had to misdemeanors in 82' convicted,OFFENSE;poss/manu//dist,etc-marijuana. SENTENCE;PROB-8M FINE: $150.00 OFFENSE;DUI, SENTENCE:FINE;$300.00 and TRAFFIC SCHOOL, So are they saying because these offenses could carry more time they denied me. TIA digthis :D
 
#2 ·
digthis, this is not legal advice, and I am not your lawyer, but due to the "war on drugs" possession offenses are a special category when it comes to the firearms license in the State of Georgia. On the federal level, it is the same. That is, while misdemeanor marijuana possession is not a crime punishable by more than one year, it still disqualifies you under the Brady background check.

18 USC 922(g)(3) disqualifies any person:

"who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802));"

There are other crimes punishable by less than one year that also disqualify an applicant, such as misdemeanor domestic violence offenses.

You might want to do further research on this issue to determine if this will always be a disqualifying factor, as the word "is" is a present tense verb.

You should know that this offense will forever bar you from obtaining a Georgia firearms license under current law. HB 793 would change the law to disqualify only felony drug offenders from obtaining a license.

I remember reading a story in the AJC about a minister in his sixties down in Clayton County who had been denied his firearms license for a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge of which he had been convicted at the age of 18. There is something inherently unfair in that.
 
#3 ·
Hello,
Thanks for the info, need to get that hb 793 rolling, because as you said this is unfair to a lot of people who were young and foolish and and have since grown-up and changed their ways! makes me bitter and want to go buy a gun off the street, or the easy way get some nerd brother of yours to buy you a gun and give it to you as a gift!
TIA digthis :lol:
 
#5 ·
Are you a User?

This is a totally non-legal comment, from my perspective as an ordinary citizen with an education who can read and write English.

If I had been convicted of misdemeanor possession of marijuana years ago, and had not touched the stuff since then, I would not consider myself to be "an unlawful user of" or "addicted to" that controlled substance. One joint does not a doper make!

There are some people who are regular users of weed who have somehow managed NOT to get caught yet, and I would think that if somehow the government could prove that they're habitual dope smokers who bought a gun after filling out a Form 4473, they could be prosecuted (but proving it would be quite a challenge). Conversely, if I were on a jury hearing this case, the prosecution would have a really tough job ahead of them to convince me that because somebody at one time possessed marijuana, several years later they must still identify themselves as a "user of" that substance.

Is there any legal authority for the idea that "a user of... a controlled substance" means the same thing as "any person who has ever been convicted of.... a drug offense" ??
 
#7 ·
Any New Information

I'm curious... is there any new information about this? DIG THIS, did you ever talk to an attorney. Does anybody else know if somebody is legally considered "an unlawful user of..." something that they HAD USED, one time, in the long-distant past?
 
#8 ·
O.C.G.A. 16-11-129(b)(5)

So far as the firearms license goes:

(5)(A) Any person, the provisions of paragraph (3) of this subsection notwithstanding, who has been convicted of an offense arising out of the unlawful manufacture, distribution, possession, or use of a controlled substance or other dangerous drug.
(B) As used in this paragraph, the term:
(i) 'Controlled substance' means any drug, substance, or immediate precursor included in the definition of controlled substances in paragraph (4) of Code Section 16-13-21.
(ii) 'Convicted' means a plea of guilty, a finding of guilt by a court of competent jurisdiction, the acceptance of a plea of nolo contendere, or the affording of first offender treatment by a court of competent jurisdiction irrespective of the pendency or availability of an appeal or an application for collateral relief.
(iii) 'Dangerous drug' means any drug defined as such in Code Section 16-13-71.
 
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