Today the Supreme Court by a 5-3 decision ruled in favor of allowing individuals convicted of crimes outside of the U.S. the right to possess guns
within U.S. borders. The court determined that although U.S. law prohibits gun ownership to U.S. citizens convicted of a felony in "any court" ,
"any court" only applies to domestic crimes, not convicted crimes from overseas.
www.msnbc.msn.com
The court reasoned that U.S. law, which prohibits felons who have been convicted in “any court” from owning guns, applies only to domestic
crimes.
Justice Stephen G. Breyer, writing for the majority, said interpreting the law broadly to apply to foreign convictions would be unfair to defendants
because procedural protections are often less in international courts. If Congress intended foreign convictions to apply, they can rewrite the law to
specifically say so, he said. “We have no reason to believe that Congress considered the added enforcement advantages flowing from inclusion of
foreign crimes, weighing them against, say, the potential unfairness of preventing those with inapt foreign convictions from possessing guns,”
Breyer wrote. He was joined by Justices John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O’Connor, David H. Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
In a dissent, Justice Clarence Thomas argued that Congress intended for foreign convictions to apply. “Any” court literally means any court, he
wrote. “Read naturally, the word ’any’ has an expansive meaning, that is, ’one or some indiscriminately of whatever kind,”’ Thomas said.
He was joined by Justices Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy.
The Bush administration had asked the court to apply the statute to foreign convictions.
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Well this certainly doesn't help our war on terror/homeland security domestically. It seems to be be sending the message that the US has no problem
with foreign
felons (potential terrorists?) obtaining guns here, as long as they don't get 'caught' doing their same deeds within our borders.
Sleeper cells must be rejoicing in this ruling. I wonder what Interpol thinks.
Related News Links:
www.reuters.com
www.cnn.com
abcnews.go.com
www.bloomberg.com 
