Keywords
civil disability, occupational disability, employment disability, firearms, United States v. Bean
Abstract
Through the case of Thomas Bean, a firearms dealer convicted of a felony and subsequently denied his firearms license and right to possess firearms, this Article discusses the injustice that occurs when the law arbitrarily denies an individual his occupation merely because he is a felon. The Article argues that 18 U.S.C. § 925(c) gives the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms the power to review a petition to restore those rights but that Congress has rendered the statute useless by depriving the Bureau of funding to investigate such petitions. Because this denies individuals, like Bean, the ability to reenter into their professions, the system is deeply flawed. Direct and secondary consequences of occupational and educational disabilities are often arbitrary, haphazard, and unintentional. When they deny an ex-offender the opportunity for employment, they are unconscionable. The Article focuses on the firearms disability and loss of occupational license.
Recommended Citation
Mark M. Stavsky,
No Guns or Butter for Thomas Bean: Firearms Disabilities and Their Occupational Consequences,
30 Fordham Urb. L.J. 1759
(2003).
Available at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/ulj/vol30/iss5/10