The myth of gun rights restoration

[Pat McGarrity]

The Supreme Court has ruled that unfunded BATF investigations are not grounds for restoration of gun rights, even when a U.S. citizen is charged by a MEXICAN court. Now; how is it going to be any better for our own veterans, who have merely sought counseling due to the tremendous stress of war, that have had their right to own a gun denied?

This was upheld in U.S. v. Bean, 537 U.S. 71, 123 S. Ct. 584, 154 L. Ed. 483 (2002). The funding WILL NOT be restored by the McCarthy/Brady Expansion Bill.

Here is an analysis by Donald Ray Burger Attorney at Law:

"A Texas gun dealer named Thomas Bean went to Laredo, Texas, for a gun show. On Saturday night, after instructing his assistants to empty his Suburban of all guns and ammo, he drove himself and his three assistants across the border into Nuevo Laredo for dinner.
Upon crossing the border, the Mexican authorities discover approximately 200 rounds of overlooked ammo in the back of the Suburban.

Bean was arrested and sentence to five years imprisonment in Mexico for bringing the ammo into Mexico.

The case became a cause celebre in the United States, and Bean was eventually transferred to a US prison under provisions of a treaty with Mexico.

Bean was released shortly after the transfer, but under US law he is considered a felon because of the overlooked 200 rounds. Although he was not breaking US law in having the forgotten ammo in the back of his vehicle, the government took away his FFL and his right to possess firearms.

Bean applied to have his gun rights restored under 18 U.S.C. 925(c), which allows the BATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) to restore gun rights. The statute also allows individuals seeking to have their gun rights restored to appeal to U.S. Federal District Court if the BATF denies the application.

The BATF did not deny the application. They simply refused to rule on it, either way. This was because the U.S. Congress had specifically refused to appropriate any money for such investigations by the BATF.

Bean petitioned the U.S. District Court in Beaumont. He argued that the refusal to rule was tantamount to a denial. He won the argument District Court. The government appealed. He won at the Fifth Circuit. The government appealed. In a unanimous decision authored by Justice Clarence Thomas the U.S. Supreme Court agreed with the government that Bean could not petition the District Court in the absence of a denial by the BATF.

To read a detailed analysis of the case, click on the top button on the left.

To protest this Catch 22, write your Congressman and Senator."

To learn more about this and other important gun rights issues, please join me and GOA Executive Director, Larry Pratt, at Range USA, tonight at 7:00 PM CST, and/or dinner there at 6:00.

In Liberty,

Patriot Pat McGarrity

Director - Shelby County, TFA

"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen." —Samuel Adams