Quoted: Do you mean to tell me that they actually ENFORCE firearms laws in SC? When I was serving GJ duty, almost all the cases we heard involved "felon in posession" charges, ALL of which were true-billed. If this guy is convicted, and then even touches a gun & gets nailed, the feds'll drop the hammer on his ass post-haste, trust me.

You'd like to think so. It doesn't happen as often as it should.

Quoted: I'd disagree with you about "how easy" it is to acquire a felony conviction.  Somehow most people manage to avoid that.

I have to disagree with your disagreeing.    These days it's all too easy to get hit with a felony.

For instance, I'm sure you all know someone who moved into an apartment and hooked the cable to their TV and found it still worked.  Not really a big deal, but get caught and you could be facing felony cable theft charges.  That's just one example how every new law passed these days seems to have felony punishment.

Quoted: I guess my question is really how to help this guy cope with  a drastic change in his life.  sure  I could "hold" his guns for him, but in reality that might have it's own legal problems and I don't want any trouble for myself.

This is actually a good idea.  "Ownership" and "possession" are to different things legally.  He is prohibited from "possessing" guns, but he can still own them.  And by "own them" I mean if you sell them you have to give him the money and he can set the price.  It's very common these days for people under indictment to turn all their guns over to their lawyer or a good friend for safe keeping until the legal matter is resolved.  This way they can't be caught "possessing" guns but the LEOs can't confiscate them either.  After the dust has settled you two can then figure out what to do with them.

Quoted: Quoted: I'd disagree with you about "how easy" it is to acquire a felony conviction.  Somehow most people manage to avoid that. I have to disagree with your disagreeing.    These days it's all too easy to get hit with a felony. For instance, I'm sure you all know someone who moved into an apartment and hooked the cable to their TV and found it still worked.  Not really a big deal, but get caught and you could be facing felony cable theft charges.  That's just one example how every new law passed these days seems to have felony punishment. ...

Sure, there's no shortage of stupid laws... you can see many of them described here:

Stupid laws

Hmmm... gov.org data says:

In 2002, State and Federal courts convicted a combined total of nearly 1,114,000 adults of felonies -- State courts convicted an estimated 1,051,000 adults and Federal courts convicted 63,217 adults (accounting for 6% of the national total.)

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/sent.htm




That's about 1.1 million people in a country that has about 281 million people, a rate of about .39% (less than 1/2 of 1%).    

If I had more time, I'd like to look further into this and see just who there people are, since I suspect many are recurring offenders, or are otherwise very different from most of us here.

At least, I'd hope so!  





edited percentages, 'cuz stupid does hurt, even with a calculimator!  

Your math is off by a factor of 10.  It is .391% not 3.5%.  2.81 million convictions a year would be 1%.

Quoted: Your math is off by a factor of 10.  It is .391% not 3.5%.  2.81 million convictions a year would be 1%.

Doh!

Good thing it's not a felony to be stupid!!

Quoted: he can't tell me exactly  what his lawyer said,  but from him it sounds like a felony conviction is on the way.  just trying to help the guy deal with the consequences.  it's some scary stuff, and nothing funny about it at all if you ask me.

That's great, but what did your buddy do in the first place to land himself in this mess?

Isn't this the time when his collection transforms itself into a "cache of weapons"?

Quoted: Do you mean to tell me that they actually ENFORCE firearms laws in SC?

The state police are rabid anti-gun from the top down, and every single cop I've met in my 76 (will be 77 the end of this month) year is strongly anti-gun.  You really don't want to get on the wrong side of the law wrt guns in this state.  I've seen cops here lose their cool and freak-out at the sight of a legally owned and legally stored gun in a car.  The cops around here act more like you'd expect cops to in England than in the South.z

I think what he's trying to get across is that his friend knows he's hammered because he knows he did the crime.

Actions have consequences.

Oh well.

Nope....... nothing at all.   That's pretty much WHY you don't DO crimes. If you do.......  Well, tough shit, I say.   Reap what you sow.

Not to be "That guy" and all but errr that sure is a nice pretty black and white world you live in.  As you say reap what you sow, some guy goes to jail or gets sued in a civil suit for shooting a burgler.  The justice system has it's quirks and to have a rigid bad/good mentality of it is ok until your ass in on the chopping block.  DON'T get me wrong if holmes is Chester the Molester then $.25 worth of justice has his name on it but we need to know the facts first.

Quoted: Quoted: Do you mean to tell me that they actually ENFORCE firearms laws in SC? The state police are rabid anti-gun from the top down, and every single cop I've met in my 76 (will be 77 the end of this month) year is strongly anti-gun.  You really don't want to get on the wrong side of the law wrt guns in this state.  I've seen cops here lose their cool and freak-out at the sight of a legally owned and legally stored gun in a car.  The cops around here act more like you'd expect cops to in England than in the South.z

Maybe it's your attitude? I got pulled over at a license check with a car FULL of guns, all visible in the back seat (on the way to go shooting), and they didn't hassle me about them; in fact, I sat and talked guns with a couple of the officers for about an hour after they told me I could go. Got pulled over for an expired inspection sticker way back, and had a loaded .357 under the seat. Again, no hassle from the Cop, other than to tell me that he had to see me put it in the glove compartment. The 2 times last year that the gunstore I live behind was broken into, when the Cops showed up they found me out front covering the entrance with my AR in my hands. No hassle at all.

Quoted: Quoted: I had to let him go and explain company policy, I never thought I would ever have to throw a veteran back to the street. This all happened 15 minutes ago. That is discrimination pure and simple. Sgatr15

Damn right it is and it's perfectly legal.  The entire employee selection process is discrimination by definition. There are some things you can't discriminate on, such as race, creed, national origin, etc.  But you can discriminate on education level, field of study, willingness and/or ability to travel, relevant experience, and so on.

If you didn't discriminate how would you select out a high school flunk-out from a Masters in EE when you are looking for a design engineer.

Many companies have decided they don't want felons working for them.  If the position requires or may require a clearance, then felons are out, can't get a clearance.  They might possibly be able to hold on to a clearance at their present employer but they will never be able to transfer it.  Every company I've worked at as a recruiter has asked about felonies, they aren't a definite downcheck, but I never saw any that weren't considered disqualifying (ie none of these alledged little felonies that anybody might commit as alledged here.)

As far as holding on to his guns for him, wait till he is convicted, if it really is a heavy duty felony, you might as well buy them from him because he likely won't get his rights back.  Also, not all states have a mechanism to restore rights.  Just be sure you don't dig yourself a ditch.

BTW with very few exceptions you don't accidentally commit felonies, most require some dumb thinking going in.  People make choices, they should think past immediate gratification.

Quoted: felons can petition the court to get their firearms rights back after they have served their sentence.  There is no guarantee the court will grant their request, but with the right lawyer, judge, and if the felon has kept his nose clean in the few years since he got out of prison, demonstrating that he can be a contributing, law abiding citizen...then there is a possibility. I think there are a couple people on this site that have gone through the above and have had their rights reinstated.   maybe he could sell them to his brother or you for a couple bucks and you can sell them back to him if he is successful in a few (??) years.

Congress has ZERO FUNDED this branch of the ATF.  You can get them back, but no one can do the paperwork.  And the last court challenge to this failed.

Quoted: Quoted: felons can petition the court to get their firearms rights back after they have served their sentence.  There is no guarantee the court will grant their request, but with the right lawyer, judge, and if the felon has kept his nose clean in the few years since he got out of prison, demonstrating that he can be a contributing, law abiding citizen...then there is a possibility. I think there are a couple people on this site that have gone through the above and have had their rights reinstated.   maybe he could sell them to his brother or you for a couple bucks and you can sell them back to him if he is successful in a few (??) years. Congress has ZERO FUNDED this branch of the ATF.  You can get them back, but no one can do the paperwork.  And the last court challenge to this failed.

Interesting.  now that i think about it, i remember reading about this on this site a while back.

Quoted: Quoted: felons can petition the court to get their firearms rights back after they have served their sentence.  There is no guarantee the court will grant their request, but with the right lawyer, judge, and if the felon has kept his nose clean in the few years since he got out of prison, demonstrating that he can be a contributing, law abiding citizen...then there is a possibility. I think there are a couple people on this site that have gone through the above and have had their rights reinstated.   maybe he could sell them to his brother or you for a couple bucks and you can sell them back to him if he is successful in a few (??) years. Congress has ZERO FUNDED this branch of the ATF.  You can get them back, but no one can do the paperwork.  And the last court challenge to this failed.

That is correct if you're referring to a disqualifying Federal felony conviction. In that case your only recourse is a Presidential pardon.  If you are convicted in State court and your right to possess firearms are restored at the State level your RKBA are restored at the Federal level. If you were convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence you may still be prohibited from possessing firearms under Federal law even if your rights are restored at the State level.

Anyone seeking to have his/her RKBA rights restored should of course consult an attorney in his/her state of residence for legal advice.