Hope for Prospective Firearm Owners whose Firearm Rights Have Been Restored in Another State
The California Bureau of Firearms has been successfully sued under the Second Amendment for its failure to authorize firearm purchases in cases where out of state convictions have been set aside or vacated. In Linton v. Bonta; 18-cv-07653-JD (N.D. Cal.), a judge of the Northern District of California granted summary judgment for three plaintiffs challenging California Department of Justice procedures. Despite having an out of state court set aside or vacate their convictions in other states thereby restoring their firearms in those states, and despite the original convictions being over two decades old, California denied them authorization to purchase a firearm. This ran afoul of the Second Amendment as described in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen (2022), 597 U.S. 1. The district court ordered authorization to purchase a firearm and awarded attorney fees to the plaintiff’s counsel. The Linton judgment is just being finalized so there may be an appeal.
Notably, the court docket contains the deposition of a Bureau of Firearms official responsible for determining eligibility. In the deposition, the official explains how, as a general rule, all vacated out of state and in state non-reducible felony convictions are used as a basis to deny eligibility, despite the felony no longer being on the books. (A non-reducible felony dismissed under Penal Code section 1203.4 is still on the books, so Linton would not apply to people who have only had their cases dismissed under PC 1203.4.) This is opposite to how the federal government and most other states treat eligibility. No Penal Code section or federal code required this interpretation, it was just a matter of Bureau of Firearms internal policy. The policy created the problematic effect that a person would be able to possess a firearm in one state but not another, solely based on an internal government interpretation unbacked by code.
A decade ago, a claim under the Second Amendment of this nature would not have prevailed. Recent appointees to the Supreme Court have expanded the protections under the Second Amendment and this has filtered down to the District Courts. What does it mean for prospective firearm owners with out-of-state felonies? This decision makes it more important than ever for them to obtain clean record relief/restore firearm rights in the state of the conviction. Afterwards, those prospective firearm owners will have a stronger position from which to argue for possession of a firearm in California.
Attorney David Reagan is an experienced clean record attorney who helps people restore firearm rights. Based in Dublin, California, Mr. Reagan handles cases in Alameda County, Contra Costa County, and throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.
