How to Restore Gun Rights

[Natesdad]

My question involves criminal records for the state of: California

In 1993, I was convicted of Domestic 273.5 (M) (threw coffee on ex wife). In 1996, I got an expungement. Somehow I was able to rejoined the (GUARD) military in 05 and purchased a GLOCK. In 07as I was leaving to go to Iraq, two DOJ agents came to my office. They explained that I had falsely purchased a weapon and politely asked for the weapon.

I surrendered the weapon the next day. The DOJ agents were polite and expressed they were only doing their job.

I hired a law firm for a fairly reasonable retainer, who stated that based on my community service and military and no other criminal history; I might be a candidate for a Writ of Coram Nobias.

In 07, days before I deployed, my Writ was granted and I felt my rights were restored. Upon my arrival I asked for my weapon back DOJ said no and that they were not honoring my writ. My law firm wants serious money, any thoughts.

[aardvarc]

California's expungement of the DV misdemeanor doesn't impact the FEDERAL restriction (the feds don't recognize the expungement, and FEDERAL law prevents CA from restoring your gun rights). Google "Lautenberg Ammendment". The only hope is if an attorney can successfully argue that the crime you were convicted under doesn't meet the FEDERAL definition of domestic violence under Lautenberg (I'd look it up for you but am not the road at the moment - perhaps Carl will know off the top of his head if 273.5 is known to be challengeable - if it's not, you're probably sunk). Coram is an attempt to return the case to the lower court in an attempt to lessen the charge of conviction, but it's generally only successful if there has been some substantial error of fact in the case - in your case if the victim met the definition that made the case a DV one, and the action of tossing the coffee was true, then the two elements needed for the DV restriction would remain. If you've got the money to fight it, you can certainly do so - but understand that it's a FEDERAL level problem that will be extremely expensive to attempt to remedy via Coram, and with only iffy prospects for success.