HoldenCaufield
Junior Member
What is the name of your state? TEXAS
Can a felon legally own black powder for a muzzle loading antique gun?
Can a felon legally own black powder for a muzzle loading antique gun?
Generally, No. Especially since they can't lawfully possess the firearm.What is the name of your state? TEXAS
Can a felon legally own black powder for a muzzle loading antique gun?
Thank you for the response, but I think felons can lawfully possess antique guns. My question is about black powder though, not guns.Generally, No. Especially since they can't lawfully possess the firearm.
Bottom line: (Note: ABSENT SOME LEGAL REHABILITATION - A felon cannot posses black powder. It is an explosive.Thank you for the response, but I think felons can lawfully possess antique guns. My question is about black powder though, not guns.
Anybody else?
I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It's awful. If I'm on my way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I'm going, I'm liable to say I'm going to the opera. It's terrible. ~J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 3Thank you for the response, but I think felons can lawfully possess antique guns. My question is about black powder though, not guns.
Anybody else?
Just because it uses an archaic ammunition, doesn't make it old or a replica of an old one.So, possession of the blackpowder weapon may be lawful in TX.
State law is typically more restrictive than federal law. Plus, there is the possibility that the weapon was not transported across state lines in which case much of the federal law would not then apply.Carl - I don't actually believe TX law is relevant, I think this is a fed issue.
I do blackpowder for a hobby and have for 20 years, and unless it's a homemade black powder rifle, it almost certainly is a replica firearm.Concerning the rifle... for the Fed exemption to be valid the weapon must be either older than 1899 or a black powder replica. The definition of replica can be extremely specifically construed, and has been in other cases. That's just for possesion.
Not under state law, which requires it have intent to create an illegal device attached to it or be in sufficient quantity to trigger some other laws. Simply possessing the gunpowder does not appear to be a crime in TX or under federal law.It would be easy to construe possession of black powder as possession of explosive, which is illegal for felons.
His best bet would be to see an attorney in TX. But, as it is defined in TX, I don't think he's going to run afoul of the law there.This poster is treading down an alley for 'gun ownership for felons' that has been well trodden with mixed results. If the poster wants a fight, he is likely to get one.
No ... but I have yet to see a manufactured black powder weapon that is not ostensibly a reproduction of an antique. Not too many modern black powder weapons out there ... I suppose there is, but I have never seen one. And, if they exist, they are few and far between.Just because it uses an archaic ammunition, doesn't make it old or a replica of an old one.
Then the legislature should close the loophole in the law and change the statute, because that is not what the statute implies.Further, the case law in Texas is that if you use intend to have as an antique/curio, i.e., ornamental, that is what the statue applies to. If you intend to use it at a weapon, then the exception for the antique weapon does not exist.