Gun-rights advocacy group Grassroots NC says decades of overcriminalization have created a long list of misdeeds that can lose people their right to own a gun for questionable reasons, including financial crimes that those who wrote early felon gun bans 100-plus years ago wouldn’t have considered at the time.
Its brief cites two famous felons, TV host Martha Stewart and President Donald Trump.
Stewart spent five months in prison for her conviction in a stock-trading investigation. Trump is currently appealing his 34 felony convictions of falsifying business records to cover up hush-money payments made during his 2016 presidential campaign.
“It makes little sense to deny Martha Stewart, who has the financial means to employ armed private security for her safety, the right to personally possess a firearm,” the Grassroots NC brief says. “Even more questionable is why Donald Trump cannot possess a gun when he currently commands the most powerful military in the world.”
The group argues that while it’s sensible to keep some violent offenders banned from carrying guns, the state is violating the constitutional rights of other felons who pose no apparent risk to public safety.
“Loss of the lawful right to own or possess a firearm should be driven by the dangerousness of the individual in question rather than the fact alone of her prior felony conviction,” Grassroots NC said in its brief.
Cato and the ACLU add that the ban unjustly feeds people back into the prison system, including many who committed no underlying crime other than having a gun.
“Ironically, the most frequently sentenced felony in 2024 in North Carolina was felon-in-possession of a firearm,” they wrote. “Broad application of [the law] thus keeps people cycling in and out of the criminal justice system, rather than contributing to their communities as productive citizens.”
— Will Doran in Should felons be allowed to own guns? Yes, advocates tell NC Supreme Court
“Ironically, the most frequently sentenced felony in 2024 in North Carolina was felon-in-possession of a firearm”
That’s because it’s the easiest felony to prove, so they drop the other (usually drug-related) charges in exchange for a plea bargain. Prosecutors choose easy. Only about 2% of felony cases go to trial.
Unfortunately the term “felony” was weaponized and stretched beyond it’s orginal intent, a very very long time ago.
And also unfortunately the very short sited fix, by so many foolish people. Was to demand that jails be emptied. Because accordingly to the smartest people in the room. We had too many people being locked up in the USA. Compared to other societies.