No Gun ownership for those convicted of Domestic Violence -FEDERAL LAW
(CN) - A federal lifetime ban on gun ownership for domestic violence misdemeanants does not violate the Second Amendment, the 9th Circuit ruled Monday.
California resident Daniel Chovan’s misdemeanor conviction stems from an incident of domestic violence in 1996.
He came to the attention of the FBI in 2009 when he failed to list his domestic violence conviction on a form while attempting to purchase a gun in San Diego.
The FBI searched Chovan’s home in 2010 after finding videos on the Internet “depicting Chovan and others shooting rifles and conducting ‘border patrols’ near the U.S.-Mexico border,” according to the ruling. Investigators also discovered that in March 2010 Chovan’s estranged wife had told police responding to her call for help that Chovan had “threatened to hunt her down and shoot her if she ever left him.”
Agents later confiscated four firearms and 532 rounds of assorted ammunition from Chovan’s home.
Chovan sought to dismiss the indictment against him by challenging the constitutionality of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(9), the federal statute passed by Congress in 1996 to combat domestic gun violence.
It applies only to those convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence crimes because such offenders, though prone to recidivism, often avoid felony charges.
Since California law would have only affected Chovan’s gun-ownership rights for 10 years instead of life, he argued that the statute was an unconstitutional violation of the Second Amendment in general and as applied to him specifically.
More: Courthouse News Service