The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday sided with two Pennsylvania residents, deeming their crimes as minor even though they could have produced jail time of more than two years.
The court restored gun ownership rights to Daniel Binderup of Manheim, Lancaster County, who pleaded guilty in Pennsylvania in 1998 to misdemeanor corruption of minors for a consensual sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl working at his bakery. He received probation and a fine, but the offense carried a potential sentence of five years.
It also ruled in favor of Julio Suarez of Gettysburg, Adams County, who pleaded guilty in Maryland to misdemeanor possession of a handgun without a license, a conviction that could have sent him to jail for three years. He received a suspended sentence and a fine.
The 3rd Circuit majority ruled that the federal gun ownership ban requires the offenses to be considered serious crimes, rather than simply carry state sentences of at least two years or more. The judges noted that Pennsylvania and Maryland graded Binderup and Suarez's convictions as misdemeanors. The decision was 8-7, although there was division among the majority about how challenges to gun prohibitions will play out in the courts.
