NEWS: Felons Overseas Get To Carry Guns In US, page 1

posted on Apr, 26 2005 @ 04:12 PM

link

Today the Supreme Court by a 5-3 decision ruled in favor of allowing individuals convicted of crimes outside of the U.S. the right to possess guns within U.S. borders. The court determined that although U.S. law prohibits gun ownership to U.S. citizens convicted of a felony in "any court" , "any court" only applies to domestic crimes, not convicted crimes from overseas.

www.msnbc.msn.com
The court reasoned that U.S. law, which prohibits felons who have been convicted in “any court” from owning guns, applies only to domestic crimes.

Justice Stephen G. Breyer, writing for the majority, said interpreting the law broadly to apply to foreign convictions would be unfair to defendants because procedural protections are often less in international courts. If Congress intended foreign convictions to apply, they can rewrite the law to specifically say so, he said. “We have no reason to believe that Congress considered the added enforcement advantages flowing from inclusion of foreign crimes, weighing them against, say, the potential unfairness of preventing those with inapt foreign convictions from possessing guns,” Breyer wrote. He was joined by Justices John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O’Connor, David H. Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

In a dissent, Justice Clarence Thomas argued that Congress intended for foreign convictions to apply. “Any” court literally means any court, he wrote. “Read naturally, the word ’any’ has an expansive meaning, that is, ’one or some indiscriminately of whatever kind,”’ Thomas said. He was joined by Justices Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy.
The Bush administration had asked the court to apply the statute to foreign convictions.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

Well this certainly doesn't help our war on terror/homeland security domestically. It seems to be be sending the message that the US has no problem with foreign felons (potential terrorists?) obtaining guns here, as long as they don't get 'caught' doing their same deeds within our borders. Sleeper cells must be rejoicing in this ruling. I wonder what Interpol thinks.

Related News Links:
www.reuters.com
www.cnn.com
abcnews.go.com
www.bloomberg.com

shots

posted on Apr, 26 2005 @ 04:32 PM

link

Well this certainly doesn't help our war on terror/homeland security domestically. It seems to be be sending the message that the US has no problem with foreign felons (potential terrorists?) obtaining guns here, as long as they don't get 'caught' doing their same deeds within our borders. Sleeper cells must be rejoicing in this ruling. I wonder what Interpol thinks.

I was thinking the very same thing when I considered the story. I see this as yet another bad Supreme Court ruling. A felon is a felon no matter where they come from.

djohnsto77

posted on Apr, 26 2005 @ 07:32 PM

link

This is pretty crazy, at least they just made a decision on a law and the law can be fixed by Congress, not said that it was a consitutional right for foreign felons to own firearms.

And people wonder why conservatives are worried about the courts?

Jamuhn

posted on Apr, 26 2005 @ 07:40 PM

link

DJ, I'm sure people who are more progressive in their view of the US believes that US courts makes dumb decisions as well. This conservative-liberal, democrat-republican crap is getting frickin old.

JoeDoaks

posted on Apr, 26 2005 @ 07:47 PM

link

Wow- this is nutz

They are on a 'watch list' and still get to carry?

Liberals run the Supreme Court, right

boogyman

posted on Apr, 26 2005 @ 10:29 PM

link

Well the fact of the matter is we dont really recognize foreign courts in America. Remember once something becomes a law it applies to everyone equally. Not every country has a fair and just legal system do we really want to take the word of say pre invasion Iraq or North Korea that a man is guilty of a crime. What happens to the political refugee convicted in absentia for some trumped up political charge. Technically he's a felon and would be barred from gun ownership if we valued foreign courts on an equal footing as American courts.

I mean would all foreign convictions hold the same weight as American ones or would there be a list of nations we consider legal equals? Who would be on charge of making such a list and keeping it updated? How often would it be updated? Would an update affect people retroactively ? Allowing such legislation would only create a bureaucratic nightmare we can barely keep track of the legal status of our own citizens let alone foreigners.

Remember not everything is about terrorism some times we have to look at the big picture. Foreign terrorism has been elevated too much to an unrealistic threat level. The fact is a crime is a crime murder is murder and we shouldnt get bent out of shape because some maniac on the other side of the world living in a mudhut dreams of killing americans. We have plenty of home grown maniacs that pose more of a threat to the average citizen and Im not just talking about "domestic terrorist" groups. The dumb kid strung out on meth down the block with an illegal handgun is more likely to be the cause of your untimely demise then some krazy kommie or mad mullah.