Can we get our facts straightened out a bit?
litlewolf2, were you originally convicted under a felony charge? Or, were you charged under a felony count which was plea-bargained down to a misdemeanor and then convicted?
There are 3 things that you need to look at.
1) Under the felony conviction, if the maximum sentence could have been more than a year in prison/jail, then you are a prohibited person under Federal law.
Quote:
18 U.S.C. § 922(g) It shall be unlawful for any person -
(1) who has been convicted in any court of, a crime punishable
by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year;
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2) Under the misdemeanor conviction, if the maximum sentence could have resulted in two years (or more) of incarceration, then you are a prohibited person under Federal law.
Quote:
18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(20) The term “crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year” does not include—
(B) any State offense classified by the laws of the State as a misdemeanor and punishable by a term of imprisonment of two years or less.
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Following the last quote, above, is this little missive:
Quote:
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18 U.S.C. § 921(a) What constitutes a conviction of such a crime shall be determined in accordance with the law of the jurisdiction in which the proceedings were held. Any conviction which has been expunged, or set aside or for which a person has been pardoned or has had civil rights restored shall not be considered a conviction for purposes of this chapter, unless such pardon, expungement, or restoration of civil rights expressly provides that the person may not ship, transport, possess, or receive firearms.
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3) You now have to ask yourself, was your
civil right to vote, taken away and restored? Was your
civil right to sit on a jury, taken away and restored? Was your
civil right to hold public office, taken away and restored?
If you have answered, "No," to all three questions, then your
civil rights, as interpreted by the DOJ and BATF&E, were never impacted.
They do not consider your 2A rights as a civil right. Most particularly, if that was the
only right that was taken away and restored.
There are two cases, winding their way through the Federal Courts, that address these questions, albeit in slightly different ways: 1)
Schrader v. Holder (#32 in the 2A Cases), and 2)
Enos, et al v. Holder, et al (#39 in the 2A Cases).
Outside of an expungement or a pardon, by the Governor of the State you were convicted in, you will have to wait until these cases are decided.
Of course, if you have the $$$, you can always hire a good 2A attorney and file a lawsuit yourself on these grounds. Be warned, this will cost in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, to take it to just the Circuit Court of Appeals. By the time you get there, one or both of the two cases, above, may have already been decided.