Forget the flap over whether gun control legislation Kerry once supported would have banned the gun he brandished in West Virginia, Stop the Bleating suggests it was illegal for Kerry to accept the gun. In short:
It is (with a few exceptions, none of which appear to apply in Kerry’s case) unlawful for a non-licensee to transfer (sell, give, whatever) a firearm to another non-licensee who he “knows or has reasonable cause to believe” is not a resident of the state in which the transferor resides. And it is (with a few exceptions, none of which appear to apply in Kerry’s case) unlawful for the transferee to possess said firearm, at least in his state of residence.
Assuming this analysis is correct, does Kerry still have the gun?
Update:Several readers inquire whether this law is relevant to President Bush’s possession of a gun that once belonged to Saddam Hussein. I have no idea, but it is an interesting question, and I’d gladly post the answer if someone knows.
Update: Here is a possible answer.
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