Disposing of a Defendant's Guns after a Felony Conviction

On Monday, the United States Supreme Court unanimously decided a case about the disposition of a defendant’s guns after the defendant has been convicted of a felony. The case is Henderson v. United States. This post discusses the case and its implications for North Carolina. Background. Tony Henderson was a gun owner. He was charged with a felony drug offense in federal court. He surrendered his guns to the FBI as a condition of his pretrial release, and eventually pled guilty to a felony, rendering him ineligible to possess firearms under federal law. 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). He asked the FBI to transfer the guns to a friend who, according to Henderson, had agreed to purchase them. The FBI refused, asserting that transferring the guns at Henderson’s direction would amount to giving him constructive possession of the guns. Henderson took the matter to court. Ruling. The trial judge and the court of appeals sided with the FBI, but the Supreme Court reversed unanimously. It noted that federal law prohibits felons from possessing guns, not owning them. Possession includes constructive possession, so a court can’t order a felon’s guns transferred to someone who will allow the felon to access them or control their use. But so long as the recipient will not do that, it is an “incident of ownership” that the felon may “sell or otherwise dispose of” his or her guns as he or she sees fit. The Court also noted that reading section 922(g) to prohibit a felon from [...]