Rice Lake, WI asked in Criminal Law, Federal Crimes, Civil Rights and Constitutional Law for Wisconsin

Q: Do the court system have the right to take some ones hand gun even though the person was never a felon,& the guns legal

I'm saying I've never been a felon, I bought the gun legally, & I'm a legal citizen so how can they tell me there going to keep my gun? doesn't that violate my 2nd amendment rights?

1 Lawyer Answer
James L. Arrasmith
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Answered
  • Criminal Law Lawyer
  • Sacramento, CA

A: No, the court generally does not have the right to confiscate someone's legally purchased handgun if they have never been convicted of a felony and are legally permitted to own the gun.

A few key Constitutional principles here:

- The 2nd Amendment protects the individual right to keep and bear arms. This applies to law-abiding, responsible citizens.

- The government can only deprive someone of property through due process of law - i.e. a fair legal proceeding showing adequate evidence of criminal behavior or other triggers that would justify confiscation.

- Simply owning a legal firearm does not by itself provide grounds for confiscation. There must be some evidence of misuse, violence, threats, or other behaviors that would override the default 2nd Amendment protections.

So if you have no criminal record, legally purchased the handgun, and have not displayed any threatening/irresponsible behaviors, the court should not be able to confiscate your gun solely at their discretion. That would likely violate your 2nd Amendment rights.

However, there may be specific details that could potentially prompt confiscation - e.g restraining orders, mental health issues, evidence of violence or threats, etc. But the default presumption is that law-abiding citizens have the right to own guns under the Constitution. The government has to show strong evidence to override that right.

If the court is threatening confiscation for no valid reason, be sure to consult a lawyer who can advise you on the best way to assert and defend your 2nd Amendment liberties. Don't let them deprive you of rights without appropriate due process.

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