By David Codrea
USA – -(Ammoland.com)- A citizen denied his right to purchase a firearm even though he is not a prohibited person has won admission from the government that his appeal has been recognized, Stamboulieh Law, PLLC announced Thursday. The client has been trying since 2010 to get his denial reversed.
It took retaining a lawyer and filing suit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to force the needed government review of the case, and to finally obtain a positive response:
This letter is in response to your inquiry concerning your eligibility to possess or receive firearms. The certified court documentation and/or other pertinent materials submitted have been reviewed. Based on further review and investigation, we have been able to determine you are eligible to posses or receive a firearm. The FBI Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division’s NICS Section Firearm Appeal Certificates are enclosed.
Regular AmmoLand Shooting Sports News readers of this column are familiar with attorney Stephen Stamboulieh. He is currently challenging New Jersey carry permit denials and working with the Heller Foundation on appeals in two machine gun cases. Last week it was reported he is representing this correspondent and Kent Terry, brother of slain Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, in a Freedom of Information Act request to determine what State Department communications documents may exist relative to Operation Fast and Furious “gunwalking.”
“While we are certainly pleased with the result, the length of time for appeals is yet another roadblock set up to deny people their fundamental right to keep and bear arms, and it should not have taken an attorney to prove that he was not a prohibited person,” Stamboulieh noted in his announcement.
“The interesting part of this: he appealed a denial in 2010 which apparently was only just handled now after we filed suit. 2010! We have one other case pending in DC right now with a number of cases yet to be filed. Stay tuned for further updates.”
That brings up vital points involving due process and equal treatment under the law. A citizen without the persistence, wherewithal and good fortune of contacting an attorney that is both interested and capable would still be denied his fundamental right to keep and bear arms by the very government that has as one of its primary mandates “to secure the Blessings of Liberty.”
A government that, rather than working to fulfill that requirement has to be dragged kicking and screaming — and to only grudgingly give in when it has no other legal choice — is actively undermining its entire justification for existence.
That goes beyond deliberate indifference to rights. It is active subversion of them.
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating / defending the RKBA and a long-time gun rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament.
In addition to being a field editor/columnist at GUNS Magazine and associate editor for Oath Keepers, he blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.
I have held the FBI in low esteem since I was a cop in Oklahoma in the 80s.
Now, I have nothing but utter CONTEMPT for ALL FLEAs. They have become corrupt, cock-sucking, pig-fucking, statist, sub-human, parasitic, steaming piles of obama.
My name is Neil E. Wright, and I approve this message.
I have fought for the better part of 30 years to have my “record corrected”. I have sent court documents that support my position, multiple fingerprint cards, multiple $18.00 FBI fees, paid over $2, 300.00 dollars for copies of documents, research of archives, and attorney fees to date, all to get my FBI-CJIS “rap sheet” corrected. In August of this year, after a 30 year battle, I received my corrected, updated FBI file. Since August, I have been “DENIED” on two firearms purchases and cannot get a response from NICS as to why. Appeals go un-answered. The FBI NICS and… Read more »
This conduct is reprehensible and there should be accountability (aka-punishment) for this unlawful conduct. Here in Pennsylvania we use a Point of Contact arrangement for conducting background checks for the purchase and carrying of firearms.
Have pity on us here in PA because our PA State Police are ‘far worse’ in conducting background checks and denials than the FBI who charged the PSP with actually violating Federal Law in an audit in 2001 of the Pennsylvania Instant Check System (PICS).
This article would have real value if there were a citation to the Court’s file (docket number). Such a citation to the case name and docket number, would allow readers to see how the government replied to the suit and what decisions the Court issued.
the FIRST job of government is t SECURE OUR RIGHTS UNDER THE LAW. Instead these traitorous cockroaches busy themselves about restricging and infringing upon our rights at every turn.
Speaking of “turn”, how’s about we turn out these traitors and dismantle the corrupt organisations that overpay and shelter these enemies of the people? Oh, and disarm THEM. It is rather obvious that the reason they want to disarm us is so they can be the only ones armed. And we all know that he who is armed will be the one calling the tunes.
i WILL never BUY A FIREARM FROM A DEALER AGAIN… ONLY FROM A PRIVATE INDIVIDUAL, AND THEN THEY WILL HAVE NO IDEA WHAT i HAVE… SCREW THE GOVERNMENT!!!!
GIVEN THE RECENT GARBAGE AND ACTIONS OF FBI DIRECTOR COMEY AND HIS STOOGES, I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT THESE PEOPLE ARE TRUSTED TO PROTECT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE FROM CRIMINALS ANSWER TERRORISTS
TO CALL THEM INCOMPETENT MORONS IS TO INSULT
MORONS. WHAT A WASTE OF TIME AND TAXPAYER MONEY.
SICKENING.
I have a couple of questions. First, after a six year legal battle, what would be the final cost of a firearm??? Second, does someone who fights a six year battle for their fundamental “right to keep and bear arms” still have to go through a “waiting period”??? Just wonderin’.
SuperG, the FBI was never substantially better than any other law enforcement agency, it’s just that Hoover put a lot of work into developing a public mystique about them.
Everybody knows the FBI killed John Dillinger, but nobody knows they also shot two bystanders, which ranks with some of the NYPD’s most inept shootouts.
I used to have a lot of respect for the FBI. But nowadays I see it as a lackey for the democratic leftist liberals to support their agendas. The FBI are not there for us anymore. They used to be an intelligence and security agency that also served as the federal law enforcement agency. Now they are turning more and more into the KGB that the Russians used to have. The FBI has now become the political enforcement arm of the leftist liberals.