Bogey is interested in my opinion on this conclusion drawn by the US Supreme Court.
The basis of the suit was that Gary Small had been convicted of smuggling in Japan, and after release from prison there returned to the US–where he bought a pistol. In filling out the Federal paperwork for the purchase, he claimed not to have been convicted of a felony.
But today, the Supreme Court sided with Mr. Small, ruling 5 to 3 that the phrase “convicted in any court” applies only to convictions in the United States. “Congress ordinarily intends its statutes to have domestic, not extraterritorial, application,” Justice Stephen G. Breyer wrote for a majority that also included Justices John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O’Connor, David H. Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
I agree. But I find it odd in this situation that O’Conner, Ginsburg, and Kennedy often cite foreign laws in their positions. Kennedy, this time, held to that sense of “world jurisdiction” along with two other justices deemed to be conservative. The majority argued the same thing I would have:
To include foreign convictions, the majority reasoned, would raise the possibility of tainting a person who had been caught up in a legal system lacking American standards of fairness.
Of course, that leaves open the screams that he might now commit a gun crime.
Well, when you come right down to it, nothing in the Constitution gives Congress the power to restrict gun ownership whatsoever, not even for convicted felons.
This, my friends, is a perfect example of getting the Federales involved in your life in some way, with consequences you might never have considered. The anti-gun folks would love to see all rights to gun ownership revoked. The true dyed-in-the-wool gun owners and supporters of the Second Amendment would agree with this ruling by the court.
In between are those faint of heart who want to see certain people not allowed to own guns.
Actually, the right “to keep and bear arms” means I don’t even need a concealed-carry permit to “bear arms.” But that kind of law is “tolerated” by those who will carry a gun themselves, but believe certain citizens really don’t have the same rights. I don’t have a concealed-carry permit.
Bogey, did that shock you?