i would like to get my civil right back. i did two concurrent 5 years of probation. the boh was deferred. so i have controlled substance under 1 gram. served my probation, been clean since. love to hunt and fish. what steps can i take?
The gun laws from where you live will govern you.
All 50 states must follow the federal gun law possession ban. In Texas, when you are looking to possess a gun, you will run into it as well.
Check with a local lawyer to make sure you can reinstate your civil rights so you may own a gun legally. The felonies may be the reason you can never own a gun?
Federal law prohibits gun possession by any of the following groupings of people. This is true no matter what Texas law says:
(1) Convicted in any court of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year;
(2) Fugitive from justice;
(3) Unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance;
(4) Adjudicated as mentally defective or has been committed to a mental institution;
(5) Alien illegally or unlawfully in the United States or an alien admitted to the United States under a nonimmigrant visa;
(6) Discharged from the US military by dishonorable conditions;
(7) A former citizen of the United States who has renounced US citizenship;
(8) Subject to a court order that restrains the person from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner or child of such intimate partner; or
(9) Convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence
.... Cannot lawfully receive, possess, ship, or transport a firearm.
If your convictions fall into any of these groupings, as a practical matter under federal law, you can never legally own a gun again no matter what Texas law says. So before some lawyer tries to convince you to dig up a long lost file, file a form, pay a fee and go to court, make sure you understand that federal law must be followed by all 50 states. Check with an attorney today. Your felony record is the concern. If it was a crime for over a year of sentence (whether you served or not) that could be your bar.
Best of luck to you.
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It sounds like you got deferred. Texas makes the distinction between deferred and a conviction. However, Federal law does not make this distinction. Under Federal Law you cannot ever be in possession of a firearm. You are free to go fishing as much as you want!
Well, maybe I spoke too soon. This matter is a little more complicated under federal law, and I'm not sure whether my previous post is correct or that of Mr. Thayer's. The consensus seems to be that while you're on state deferred adjudication probation, federal law certainly considers you a felon for purposes of firearm possession. In that aspect, my previous statement was at least partially incorrect. However, the consensus also seems to be that, once you've completed your deferred, federal law would probably not consider you a felon for firearm possession purposes. It's pretty unlikely, unless you're hunting on federal lands, that you would run across federal law enforcement under most circumstances. If you did, and a federal agent wanted to pursue a charge for felon in possession of a firearm, then you may have to fight the fight, but there are some good arguments to be made that you are no longer a felon. For state purposes, which you'd much more likely be dealing with, my previous post is correct. Either way, you should pursue getting those offenses sealed.
If you were given deferred adjudication probation for 2 felony charges, and you successfully completed both, then you never lost your civil rights, were never a convicted felon, and never lost your right to own firearms. Even better, if five years or more have past since you were released from probation, and assuming you have not been in additional trouble, then you qualify to petition the court to have your record sealed, which I highly recommend.
