DuPont v. Nashua Police Department

Summary

The New Hampshire Supreme Court reviewed the revocation of Gregory DuPont’s license to carry a loaded pistol or revolver and the denial of renewal of his armed security guard license. The court interpreted 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(20), holding that the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms may constitute a civil right whose restoration can implicate the federal firearms-possession prohibition. The court rejected the lower courts’ reasoning and reversed and remanded.

Holdings

1. The civil rights contemplated by 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(20) are not limited to the rights to vote, hold public office, and serve on a jury; the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms is also a civil right within the statute's ambit.
2. Where a person retained the three core civil rights but lost and expressly regained the civil right to keep and bear arms, the restoration of the firearm right was sufficient to constitute restoration of civil rights under 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(20).
3. Because Massachusetts restored DuPont's civil right to keep and bear arms, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) did not prohibit him from possessing firearms; the trial courts therefore erred in relying on federal law to sustain the license revocation and deny preliminary injunctive relief.

Questions Presented

1. Whether DuPont's Massachusetts conviction remained a predicate conviction prohibiting firearm possession under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), or whether Massachusetts's restoration of his firearm rights brought the conviction within the exemption in 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(20).
2. Whether the term "civil rights" in 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(20) is limited to voting, holding public office, and serving on a jury, or includes the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.
3. Whether restoration of the right to possess firearms, together with retention of the three so-called core civil rights, is sufficient to trigger the § 921(a)(20) exemption.
4. Whether the trial courts erred in affirming the firearm-license revocation and denying preliminary injunctive relief based on the conclusion that federal law prohibited DuPont from possessing firearms.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded