RALEIGH, N.C., Sept. 1 (UPI) -- A state law barring felons from having firearms unfairly prevented a man with a drug record from owning a gun, the North Carolina Supreme Court has ruled.
The state's high court ruled Monday the 2004 law unfairly denied resident Barney Britt, who was convicted of selling Quaaludes in 1979, from owning a firearm, The (Raleigh, N.C.) News & Observer reported.
Experts told the newspaper the ruling, authored by Justice Edward Thomas Brady, could be significant because it found that Britt's right to bear arms trumped the state's ability to restrict him from owning any weapons.
"This has implications beyond just North Carolina," said Robert Levy of the libertarian Cato Institute, which opposes gun control. "North Carolina has now decided that some felonies are not so serious to result in deprivations of the right to defend oneself."
But Roxane Kolar, director of North Carolinians against Gun Violence, told the News & Observer the decision was troubling, saying, "I've never heard of this before, of a felon having an inalienable right to own a weapon. It's putting a lot of our state gun laws at risk."
