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Second Amendment Right Regained, Despite 20-Year-Old Conviction
Federal law treated the conviction -- for altering a motor vehicles department certificate that allowed the owner to have tinted windows on his car -- as a felony, because the maximum penalty was five years in prison. But state law treated it as a misdemeanor, and the defendant was sentenced only to a year's probation.
Pennsylvania misdemeanors, unlike misdemeanors in most states, are punishable by up to five years in prison, which makes them felonies for federal firearm disqualification purposes.
Federal law treated the conviction -- for altering a motor vehicles department certificate that allowed the owner to have tinted windows on his car -- as a felony, because the maximum penalty was five years in prison. But state law treated it as a misdemeanor, and the defendant was sentenced only to a year's probation.
Pennsylvania misdemeanors, unlike misdemeanors in most states, are punishable by up to five years in prison, which makes them felonies for federal firearm disqualification purposes.