Machine Gun Conviction Overturned

by 9th U.S. Circuit Court

SAN FRANCISCO - A federal appeals court Thursday overturned a Mesa Arizona man's federal conviction of possessing five machine guns.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals of San Francisco reversed the conviction, ruling that the congressional ban does not apply to homemade machine guns and their parts because they were never in the stream of commerce.

The court ruled that there was neither a transfer nor sale of the weapons or their parts, so Congress did not have the power under the Commerce Clause to regulate homemade guns crafted from scratch.

Robert Stewart was sentenced to five years imprisonment for being a felon in possession of firearms and of possessing illegal machine guns last year.

His attorney, Thomas Haney of Phoenix, said the decision doesn't mean much for his client or for the gun movement. Few people have the skills to build a weapon from scratch, as Stewart did, Haney said.

Haney said most states, including Arizona, also have state bans against rapidly firing machine guns that would withstand judicial scrutiny regardless of whether the weapon was homemade. "It might not be viable for anyone to think they can start making their own," Haney said.

Stewart, meanwhile, faces about a 20-year sentence next week after being convicted this summer of soliciting a fellow prisoner at the Federal Correctional Institution in Phoenix to kill U.S. District Judge Roslyn Silver, the judge who last year sentenced him to five years on the weapons violations.

This decision has started a cascade of formerly convicted illegal machine gun owners to want to be clear of their charges.

Here is another case:

A former Mt. Juliet music minister who pleaded guilty to illegal possession of unregistered machine guns wants to take it back, because a federal appellate court has held that the U.S. ban does not apply to homemade versions of the automatic weapons.

Mark Lancaster does not deny that he made his own guns, using parts kits that he bought from out-of-state dealers.

But his attorney argues in motions filed late last week that a decision from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in San Francisco, addresses a set of facts that are almost identical to Lancaster's case.

Because the U.S. District Court of Middle Tennessee is part of the 6th, not the 9th, Circuit, the recent appellate ruling does not directly affect the case here. In fact, different circuits often conflict with one another on applying the law to a similar set of facts.

[oneastrix]

Well, what is a rapidly firing "machine gun?" Is there a "slower firing machine gun?" out there that I am not aware of?

The guy in the first story sounds like a real fine gentleman though. Convicted felon before the firearm charge.....solicit the murder of a judge.....yep.....he's a real dandy.

interesting read though