Q: I attempted to purchase a handgun and was denied by NICS.
I requested the reason why from the FBI and their letter says it's due to a felony conviction in Michigan from 2010. I plead No Contest and the charges of disorderly conduct and assaulting a police officer were expunged after 6 months. Why is that a prevention of my right to buy a firearm when an expungement makes it as if the conviction never happened?
A: You will need to refer back to your judgment of conviction paperwork to see exactly what happened. Your conviction could not have been "expunged" after 6 months because there is, and has been for some time, a 5 year waiting period before you may make application for expungement to the court. You may have been told you won't have to worry about it in 6 months, but unless some language like that was said at your plea hearing or at sentencing, that is not the case.
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