The justices ruled 5-3 that it did not, since "foreign convictions differ from domestic convictions in important ways," Justice Stephen Breyer wrote for the majority.
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Gary Small was convicted in a ***anese court in 1994 after customs officials became suspicious when he tried to ship a 19-gallon water heater from the United States to Okinawa. Searching the tank, officers found two rifles, eight semiautomatic pistols, and 410 rounds of ammunition. ***an has strict gun ownership and smuggling laws, and Small was sentenced to a five-year term. He was paroled in 1996.
Just days after his parole ended in 1998, Small, who had returned to the United States, purchased a 9-millimeter pistol from a Pennsylvania gun dealer. He indicated on a federal form when he purchased the weapon that he had never been convicted of a felony. He was later charged with lying on the form and with having other illegal weapons, after his home and business were searched.
"The statute's language does not suggest any intent to reach beyond domestic convictions," noted Breyer, writing for justices John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O'Connor, David Souter, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
This time, I disagree! Guilty of gun smuggling, and then we give him more guns????
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There's no such thing as truth, only perception
RE: High court: Foreign convictions don't prevent gun ownership in U.S.
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This time, I disagree! Guilty of gun smuggling, and then we give him more guns????
I happen to agree with this decision, it tends to further the sovereignty of the united states and throws feces in the face of europhiles like ginsburg.
RE: High court: Foreign convictions don't prevent gun ownership in U.S.
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I happen to agree with this decision, it tends to further the sovereignty of the united states and throws feces in the face of europhiles like ginsburg.
Have to agree. Comparing our justice system with other countries' is apples and oranges.
Plus, how are we going to add almost two hundred other nation's criminal records into our own federal database?
RE: High court: Foreign convictions don't prevent gun ownership in U.S.
agreed. there can be a world of difference between a "felony" in another country and here. further, the right to counsel, trial by jury etc., you just couldn't make a meaningful comparison.
RE: High court: Foreign convictions don't prevent gun ownership in U.S.
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Same here .
I don't like it , but I don't interpret the law .
It's really on ***an to secure their own borders. Them asking us to prevent this guy from buying here is like asking Mexico to keep people from hopping the border. Just not going to happen.
RE: High court: Foreign convictions don't prevent gun ownership in U.S.
The only possible customers for these guns in ***an would be gangsters (yakuza) who are known to the police and prohibited from owning firearms because they do what criminals do with guns. Not only is this guy a smuggler but is also a supplier of weapons to known criminals. I am pretty certain that he purchased a weapon in the U.S. with the same intention he had in smuggling them into ***an: selling guns to criminals who are barred from firearm ownership becuase of past criminal convictions. There has to be some way to keep him from doing here what he was attempting to do in ***an.
RE: High court: Foreign convictions don't prevent gun ownership in U.S.
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The only possible customers for these guns in ***an would be gangsters (yakuza) who are known to the police and prohibited from owning firearms because they do what criminals do with guns. Not only is this guy a smuggler but is also a supplier of weapons to known criminals. I am pretty certain that he purchased a weapon in the U.S. with the same intention he had in smuggling them into ***an: selling guns to criminals who are barred from firearm ownership becuase of past criminal convictions. There has to be some way to keep him from doing here what he was attempting to do in ***an.
Umm... yeah, our courts always work off of assumptions and claims without evidence...
High court: Foreign convictions don't prevent gun ownership in U.S.
