Three-Time Felon Charged with Gun Possession Loses Second Amendment Argument

This week, the court of appeals decided State v. Price, an interesting gun rights and Fourth Amendment case. Facts. The defendant was standing in a forest, near a deer stand, holding a rifle, in full camouflage, when a wildlife officer approached him. The officer asked the defendant for his hunting license, under the license check authority of G.S. 113-136(f). The officer then asked the defendant whether he was a convicted felon, and the defendant admitted that he was. The officer called another officer for backup, and they seized the defendant’s gun. The defendant was subsequently charged with possession of a firearm by a felon. Trial court proceedings. The defendant moved to suppress his statement about his criminal record, and his gun, apparently on the basis that the inquiry regarding his record unduly prolonged the license check and that without the admission, there would have been no basis for seizing the gun. The judge agreed with the defendant’s argument but ordered dismissal, rather than suppression, as the remedy. The defendant also argued that the felon-in-possession statute, G.S. 14-415.1, was unconstitutional as applied to him, because his possession of a firearm did not pose a danger to the community. The judge stated that he agreed with that argument, too, but that he was “dismissing [the case] not based on those grounds,” instead relying on the Fourth Amendment violation. Confusingly, the judge eventually signed two written dismissal orders, one based on the Fourth Amendment violation and one based on the Second Amendment claim. The [...]