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Given Hayes, can jurisdictions criminalize gun possession by any misdemeanant?

By Douglas A. Berman

The failure of any Justice to even mention the Second Amendment or Heller or the statutory interpretation canon of constitutional doubt in Hayes (basics here and here) has me wondering how far jurisdictions can go in categorically criminalizing gun possession by certain types of persons.  For example, can a jurisdiction interested in gun control (like DC and other cities) draw from Hayes the idea that it could and should categorically prohibit and criminalize gun possession by anyone and everyone ever convicted of any type of misdemeanor?   Could (and might) a jurisdiction criminalize gun possession by anyone guilty of a moving violation traffic offense or even by anyone with an arrest record? For various reasons, there is good reason to believe that some jurisdictions will be eager to evade whatever constitutional limits on gun control emerges from Second Amendment or Heller...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on February 25, 2009 (boomark / email).