Gun Law News - The Lautenberg Amendment

Gun Law News - The Lautenberg Amendment

The Lautenberg Amendment was an amendment to the Gun Control Act of 1968. It expanded the group of firearm prohibited persons to those who have ever been convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence. The effect is to make it a felony for anyone with any DV conviction to own or even handle any firearm or ammunition. It does not matter if the DV conviction occurred before the 1996 enactment of the Lautenberg Amendment.

The impact on those in the military is particularly significant. There is no exception for those in the military during the scope of their official duties.

Lautenberg also made those under a domestic restraining order into prohibited persons.

More information on the Lautenberg Amendment:

• Commentary: Ever heard of the Lautenberg Amendment?
  Matthew A. Radefeld
  Dolan Media Newswires
• The Lautenberg Amendment - Gun Control in the U.S. Army (Government Link)
  Capt. E. John Gregory
  The Army Lawyer
  October 2000
• Firearms Prohibitions and Domestic Violence: The Lautenberg Amendment
  Congressional Research Service
  October 1, 2001
• A Gutless Supreme Court Decision
  Tanya Metaksa
  FrontPageMagazine.com
  June 18, 2002

Text:

SEC. . GUN BAN FOR INDIVIDUALS COMMITTING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.
(a) Definitions: Section 921(a) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

`(33) The term `crime involving domestic violence' means a felony or misdemeanor crime of violence, regardless of length, term, or manner of punishment, committed by a current or former spouse, parent, or guardian of the victim, by a person with whom the victim shares a child in common, by a person who is cohabiting with or has cohabited with the victim as a spouse, parent, or guardian, or by a person similarly situated to a spouse, parent, or guardian of the victim under the domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction in which such felony or misdemeanor was committed.'.
(b) Unlawful Acts: Section 922 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--

(1) in subsection (d)--

(A) by striking `or' at the end of paragraph (7);

(B) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (8) and inserting `; or'; and

(C) by inserting after paragraph (8) the following new paragraph:

`(9) has been convicted in any court of any crime involving domestic violence where the individual has been represented by counsel or knowingly and intelligently waived the right to counsel.';

(2) in subsection (g)--

(A) by striking `or' at the end of paragraph (7);

(B) in paragraph (8), by striking the comma and inserting `; or'; and

(C) by inserting after paragraph (8) the following new paragraph:

`(9) has been convicted in any court of any crime involving domestic violence where the individual has been represented by counsel or knowingly and intelligently waived the right to counsel,'; and

(3) in subsection (s)(3)(B)(i), by inserting before the semicolon the following: `and has not been convicted in any court of any crime involving domestic violence where the individual has been represented by counsel or knowingly and intelligently waived the right to counsel'.

(c) Rules and Regulations: Section 926(a) of title 18, United States Code, is amended--

(1) by striking `and' at the end of paragraph (2);

(2) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (3) and inserting `; and'; and

(3) by inserting after paragraph (3) the following new paragraph:

`(4) regulations providing for the effective receipt and secure storage of firearms relinquished by or seized from persons described in subsection (d)(9) or (g)(9) of section 922.'.

From the Army Studies Guide

The Lautenberg Amendment to the Gun Control Act of 1968, effective 30 September 1996, makes it a felony for those convicted of misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence to ship, transport, possess, or receive firearms or ammunition. The Amendment also makes it a felony to transfer a firearm or ammunition to an individual known, or reasonably believed, to have such a conviction. Soldiers are not exempt from the Lautenberg Amendment.

Summary court-martial convictions, nonjudicial punishment under Article 15, UCMJ, and deferred prosecutions (or similar alternative dispositions) in civilian court do not constitute qualifying convictions within the meaning of the Lautenberg Amendment. The prohibitions do not preclude a soldier from operating major weapons systems or crew served weapons such as tanks, missiles, and aircraft. The Lautenberg Amendment applies to soldiers with privately owned firearms and ammunition stored on or off post.

Army policy is that all soldiers known to have, or soldiers whom commanders have reasonable cause to believe have, a conviction of a misdemeanor crime of domestic are non-deployable for missions that require possession of firearms or ammunition. Soldiers affected by the Lautenberg Amendment are not eligible for overseas assignment. However, soldiers who are based outside the continental United States (OCONUS) will continue to comply with their assignment instructions.

Soldiers with qualifying convictions may not be assigned or attached to tables of organization and equipment (TOE) or modified TOE (MTOE) units. Commanders will not appoint such soldiers to leadership positions that would give them access to firearms and ammunition. Soldiers with qualifying convictions may not attend any service school where instruction with individual weapons or ammunition is part of the curriculum.

Soldiers whom commanders know, or have reasonable cause to believe have, a qualifying conviction may extend if otherwise qualified, but are limited to a one year extension. Affected soldiers may not reenlist and are not eligible for the indefinite reenlistment program. Soldiers barred from reenlistment based on a Lautenberg qualifying conviction occurring after 30 September 1996 may not extend their enlistment. However, such soldiers must be given a reasonable time to seek removal of the conviction or a pardon.

Officers are subject to the provisions of the Lautenberg Amendment like any other soldier. The effects of are somewhat different if an officer has a qualifying conviction. Officers may request release from active duty or submit an unqualified resignation under AR 600-8-24, Officer Transfers and Discharges.

From Citizens Committee Forthe Right To Keep And Bear Arms

LAUTENBERG LEGISLATION CLOAKS GUN BAN AGENDA AS ANTI-TERROR TOOL

For Immediate Release: June 22, 2009

BELLEVUE, WA – Legislation introduced today by veteran anti-gun New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg is designed to expand his gun prohibition agenda under the cloak of national security, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said.

Sen. Lautenberg’s new “Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2009” would place unprecedented authority in the hands of the Attorney General to deny someone their Second Amendment rights without having been convicted, or even charged, with any crime. Instead, under this legislation, someone whose name is added – for whatever reason – to a terrorist watch list can suddenly find himself or herself prohibited from exercising their constitutionally-protected rights based on nothing more than suspicion.

“Frank Lautenberg has devoted his entire political career to stripping as many citizens as possible of their firearm civil rights,” noted CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “His motivation appears to be a Government Accountability Office report that asserts 963 cases of known or suspected terrorists trying to buy firearms over a five-year period from 2004 through February of this year. However, in 90 percent of those cases, the purchases were allowed after the buyer cleared an FBI instant background check.

“Lautenberg calls this the ‘terror loophole’,” he added, “yet neither he, nor anyone else, can adequately explain how someone gets their name on a so-called ‘terrorist watch list,’ and there appears to be no way to get one’s name off such a list once it is there.

“In Lautenberg’s world view,” Gottlieb observed, “any American citizen interested in owning a gun is a potential terrorist. Would he add all of our names to such a watch list, thus stripping us of our Second Amendment rights, without first being charged, prosecuted and convicted of some crime? Probably he would.

“In 2007,” Gottlieb recalled, “Lautenberg lamented that a similar bill went nowhere. He claimed it was blocked because too many of his colleagues ‘knuckled under to the gun lobby.’ Better that Congress protect gun owners’ civil rights than be browbeaten by a knucklehead.”