Summary
The Seventh Circuit affirmed judgment for Wisconsin in a challenge to the denial of Kenneth Karwacki’s concealed-carry permit based on his military conviction for distributing peyote. The court held that the Full Faith and Credit Clause does not prevent Wisconsin from assigning domestic firearms consequences to a federal court-martial conviction. It also rejected Karwacki’s facial and as-applied Second Amendment challenges, concluding that a firearms restriction may apply to a person convicted of drug distribution.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the Full Faith and Credit Clause requires Wisconsin to treat Karwacki's federal court-martial conviction as a misdemeanor for purposes of determining his eligibility for a concealed-carry permit.
- Whether Wisconsin's firearm restriction violates the Second Amendment facially by disarming convicted persons.
- Whether Wisconsin's firearm restriction violates the Second Amendment as applied to Karwacki, whose conviction involved distributing a prohibited drug.
Holdings
- The Full Faith and Credit Clause does not apply to a federal court-martial judgment because a court martial is not a judicial proceeding of another state. In any event, Wisconsin did not deny the judgment full faith and credit by assigning its own collateral firearm consequences to the conviction.
- The court rejected the facial challenge to Wis. Stat. § 941.29(1m)(b). The Constitution does not entitle all convicted persons to possess or carry firearms in all circumstances.
- The as-applied challenge fails because a conviction for distributing an unlawful drug falls within the category of convictions that may support firearm restrictions.
Key quotations
“The Clause does not prevent states from specifying domestic civil consequences of foreign judgments” (3)
“But if an as-applied challenge ever is possible, a person with a conviction for distributing unlawful drugs cannot be the beneficiary.” (5)
Factual background
A special court martial convicted Kenneth Karwacki of delivering peyote to fellow soldiers and imposed a bad-conduct discharge. He later applied for a Wisconsin concealed-carry permit. Wisconsin denied the application under a statute barring firearm possession by a person convicted elsewhere of a crime that would be a felony if committed in Wisconsin, because peyote distribution is a Class E felony under Wisconsin law.
Procedural history
After a special court martial convicted Karwacki of delivering peyote to fellow soldiers and imposed a bad-conduct discharge, Wisconsin denied his concealed-carry permit under Wis. Stat. § 941.29(1m)(b). Karwacki brought a federal suit asserting violations of the Full Faith and Credit Clause and the Second Amendment. The district court entered judgment for the state, and the Seventh Circuit affirmed.