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Hi, thought I'd post the obligatory new member post.
I just finished going through getting my firearm rights restored. I used a company that advertises cheap firearm rights restoration (the process cost me $1700). They took nearly a year - and I just got a copy of the court order.
In the mid 90s, I got a DV4 charge after the police were called by a neighbor over a loud argument with my girlfriend. Otherwise I have a clean record (with the exception of a couple of speeding tickets). I accepted a guilty plea in exchange for 12 months probation and a fine. My case was complicated by the fact that I didn't pay the fine ontime. I wasn't a very responsible 20 something, and I didn't make the regular payments - they doubled the fine, which I finally paid off a couple of years later. At the trial, my lawyer had said that this charge wouldn't affect my ability to purchase a handgun - but I think the rules have changed, or because I didn't pay on time, this turned into a disqualifying conviction.
My case was complicated because the rules of restoration specify that you need to have completed your sentence, and because of the age of the case, the court had destroyed the records (destroyed enough not to be obvious that I'd paid, but not enough that the original charge didn't show up).
That year felt like it took forever. The funny thing is that I've downloaded my "rap sheet" from the State Patrol at various times (work background checks, etc) and the Dv4 charge has never shown up (it always shows I have a clear record). It would be really nice if there was a way that you could look up information about yourself to be able to know for sure. I realize that in many cases, people know when they've lost firearm rights - but this was not the case with me. Just looking around at various discussion groups online, it seems like there are others who also find out this out by surprise too. It seems like they've built a system where they have several ways to take away your rights, and you don't have any way to know for sure if any of these are in effect.
This process has been eye-opening to me as far as the mess we have surrounding our firearms rights and the minefield of laws that have been laid to try to take away our rights.
I just finished going through getting my firearm rights restored. I used a company that advertises cheap firearm rights restoration (the process cost me $1700). They took nearly a year - and I just got a copy of the court order.
In the mid 90s, I got a DV4 charge after the police were called by a neighbor over a loud argument with my girlfriend. Otherwise I have a clean record (with the exception of a couple of speeding tickets). I accepted a guilty plea in exchange for 12 months probation and a fine. My case was complicated by the fact that I didn't pay the fine ontime. I wasn't a very responsible 20 something, and I didn't make the regular payments - they doubled the fine, which I finally paid off a couple of years later. At the trial, my lawyer had said that this charge wouldn't affect my ability to purchase a handgun - but I think the rules have changed, or because I didn't pay on time, this turned into a disqualifying conviction.
My case was complicated because the rules of restoration specify that you need to have completed your sentence, and because of the age of the case, the court had destroyed the records (destroyed enough not to be obvious that I'd paid, but not enough that the original charge didn't show up).
That year felt like it took forever. The funny thing is that I've downloaded my "rap sheet" from the State Patrol at various times (work background checks, etc) and the Dv4 charge has never shown up (it always shows I have a clear record). It would be really nice if there was a way that you could look up information about yourself to be able to know for sure. I realize that in many cases, people know when they've lost firearm rights - but this was not the case with me. Just looking around at various discussion groups online, it seems like there are others who also find out this out by surprise too. It seems like they've built a system where they have several ways to take away your rights, and you don't have any way to know for sure if any of these are in effect.
This process has been eye-opening to me as far as the mess we have surrounding our firearms rights and the minefield of laws that have been laid to try to take away our rights.
