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Still more proof that federal courts have no real interest in gun rights

By Douglas A. Berman

I am not especially surprised that the Second Amendment ruling in Heller has not changed the extreme sentences being handed out for federal gun possession crimes in federal courts.  And yet I cannot help but note some of the disturbing cases that still get summary treatment despite Heller's supposedly strong embrace of an individual's right to keep and bear arms. Specifically, consider the unpublished per curiam opinion today from an Eighth Circuit panel in US v. Smith, No. 08-2043 (8th Cir. Oct. 6, 2008) (available here).  Though the details are sketchy from the opinion, it appears that the defendant was acquitted of various gun possession charges at trial, but still was convicted of one count of being a felon-in-possession of a firearm...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on October 06, 2008 (boomark / email).