I'm getting all kinds of calls now for people trying to get their gun rights back for various reasons. Maybe they're afraid because of the Corona Virus right now and want to make sure that they're armed and are able to protect themselves and their family.
Some people just like to have their gun rights. Also, a lot of people are trying to get security jobs and they have certain requirements.
Underlying Offense
By no means is my law firm a gun attorney experts in getting gun rights back. We're more geared towards criminal defense and defending people who are charged with cases involving weapons and other related offenses.
What I can tell you in general is that first, you've got to deal with the underlying offense that got your gun rights taken away in the first place. Sometimes it's because you're charged with a felony. Other times it's because you are banned because of the type of crime you pled guilty to. There's a whole host of reasons you can lose your gun rights.
Another issues that I deal with in handling gun cases is, most of the time, the prosecutors — if you're charged with a gun-related offense — are going to try to take your gun rights away so that they don't have any issues with you in the future.
In other words, they figure if you have a gun-related offense now you may continue to be involved with guns and at some point impact the community in a negative way.
Reduce Felony to Misdemeanor – Penal Code 17(b)
The first thing if you're dealing with a gun lawyer and you're coming to the Hedding Law Firm for help, you need specifics from that attorney as to exactly what it is they're trying to get you to accomplish.
Let's say for example that your gun rights have been taken away because you were convicted of a felony. So, you have to talk to your lawyer and say, if the case is reduced down to a misdemeanor and we get it expunged, will that be good enough to restore my gun rights or not?
Under California law, a Penal Code 17(b) reduction of a felony charge to a misdemeanor is often the easiest to obtain option for restoring your gun rights under California law.
In other words, I have people calling me and they're just kind of meandering around. They don't even know what they even want in the first place. Another scenario is that you're charged with a gun offense and you want to try to avoid your gun rights being taken away.
Then your best bet is to find out from the gun rights attorney exactly what type of a plea you could take that would not impact your gun right now or into the future.
DOJ Constantly Changes the Rules
You really need to pin some of these guys down and get some specificity. I think the problem that people run into when it comes to these gun cases in Los Angeles county is, the Department of Justice and those in charge of gun rights are constantly changing the ballgame, waffling around and just kind of making up their own rules as they go along.
In other words, as they try to protect the public from people who engage in criminal activity with guns, they start to trample on everybody's rights — not just the people who are criminals — but the people who are honest citizens who want to bear arms. That's where you get yourself into an issue.
So, you want to be real clear if you've lost your gun rights and you're trying to restore them. Also, what exactly it takes to get them back and once you think you have your gun rights back, you want to go back or have your attorney go back to the Department of Justice.
They need to confirm that you really do have your gun rights back because you don't want to put yourself in a situation where you think you're able to own, use or possess a gun, bullets, etc., and you're really not and then you end up getting arrested and now you have to defend yourself.
Maybe you're innocent. Maybe you were told something, but who wants to even be in the criminal justice system in the first place? Nobody. So, be very careful about proceeding ahead unless you know for sure that you really do have your gun rights restored.
Steps to Take for Restoring California Gun Rights
So, just to recap, what you're looking to do is, (1) you need to confirm whether or not you've really lost your gun rights; (2) if you've lost your gun rights you need to confirm exactly what you need to do in order to get them back; and of course (3) once you believe you have your gun rights back in Los Angeles county you need to confirm it to make sure that you don't proceed ahead and then end up getting arrested.
For example, going to the shooting range. That's going to trigger if you put your fingerprints in there or do anything or if you go buy a gun and you give your driver's license, that's going to trigger the authorities to get involved with you.
Because the shooting ranges and the gun stores are all set-up to fink on you and tell on you and report you to a government agency if it's believed that you are not allowed to own, use or possess a gun in Los Angeles county.
My firm can help with doing things in court on your behalf in order to be part of the process of you getting your gun rights back. However, if you want to make sure as to what the rules are in your particular circumstance related to getting your gun rights, you really need to go to a lawyer who specializes in cases of getting people's gun rights back once they've lost them.
If it's a scenario where you don't want to lose your gun rights in the first place, you can certainly use my firm on your open gun case in one of the criminal courts in Los Angeles, but you also want to do that in conjunction with an attorney who knows all the ins and outs and knows all the changes and policies related to gun possession and losing our gun rights in Los Angeles county and across the United States.
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