'Uncle Mike, did I shoot that guy?'

[PADemD]

"How does a convicted former felon get a license to practice law, run around and openly hunt. . ." Heckler said.

http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-bucks-hunting-killing-lawyer-20101217,0,3649469.story

[Turbineguy]

1. Take a criminal

teach him all about the law and then be surprised at the result.

[onehandle]

2. Because guns > people in 'merica. nt

[lawodevolution]

7. No. Because people > government in America

And our government rules us with guns so we will have our own guns

[onehandle]

10. Good luck with that.

[Katya Mullethov]

11. Dont be too quick to discount

All those crates of 30 year old Ronald Reagan Stingers floating around Mexico .

[friendly_iconoclast]

12. Could you please PM me when you post something with pertinent information?

I'd hate to miss such a rare event.

[SteveM]

16. "My morals are more moral than your morals. Nah-na-na-nah-na." nt

[SteveM]

15. Because moral prohibitions trump good reason and the Constitution. nt

[peacebird]

3. "convicted former felon" - did he serve his time? If so, more power to him for getting an education

& passing the bar exam. If he has served his time then he should be allowed back fully into society. He has (by our laws) paid his debt to society.
However - as part of his earlier conviction he is not allowed to own a gun, which leads to questions about how he could have so many guns licensed in his name?

[Old Codger]

4. Apply

Any felon can apply to have all their rights returned including gun rights...Some get them some don't..

[peacebird]

5. oh, thank you! I did not know that. Just goes to prove making assumptions is wrong...

I assumed that his injunction against owning weapons meant he could never own them, and was puzzled how he could buy and license them (ie: why didn't the sales raise a red flag, etc?)

[benEzra]

6. It is my understanding that at least at the Federal level, the rights restoration process

has not been funded for years, so there is no way at present for someone convicted of a Federal felony or certain misdemeanors to get their rights restored short of a Presidental pardon. A state-level felony also bars you under Federal law, but it *may* be possible in some states to have one's record expunged in some way, and that would remove the Federal prohibition against ownership. For the average person without political strings to pull or in-depth legal resources, though, any felony and certain misdemeanors are a life sentence as far as firearms ownership is concerned.

It is, however, legal under Federal law for felons to possess bows and arrows, blackpowder muzzleloading firearms, and antique breechloading firearms manufactured before the year 1898 (as long as state law permits it), so it is possible to be a former felon and hunt if you hunt with those in some states.

[Old Codger]

13. States

Some if not all states allow a convicted felon, after a certain length of time to petition the governor to re-instate their rights either fully or partially, I know a couple of them from Cal. that have been pardoned that way, one with gun rights restored and one without...But you are right in that they can ,in most instances possess black powder muzzle loaders and bows and such, probably crossbows also...

[X_Digger]

14. It's quite a patchwork of procedures among the states..

Some have your record expunged.. some do pardons.. some do deferred adjudication.. some do petitions/certifications of rehabilitation (which doesn't make the conviction go away, but you can't be denied employment in most cases)..

Some states still don't allow firearms, even with these remedies (other than a pardon), some do. Some states allow a felon to petition to be allowed to hunt, but not generally own weapons.

[PavePusher]

9. There is no gun licencing in Pennsylvania.

That aside, this guy seems guilty of hunting with a rifle in a shotgun zone, violating several hunter safety rules and obstructing a criminal investigation. Manslaughter seems appropriate, barring discovery of additional evidence.

[bluedigger]

8. This was no accident.

From the article:

"In 1985, Manilla was convicted of aggravated assault for nearly beating a man to death during a fight, a felony conviction that meant he could not own a weapon."

"In 1993 in Schuylkill County, Manilla shot another hunter in the neck, was convicted of reckless hunting and his hunting privileges revoked for two years."

This guy is a predator. I'll bet he was upset at Groh hunting on the edge of his property (successfully) and "let him have it". Perhaps the deer crossed the stream onto his property after being shot, and Groh was retrieving it... They must have heard the shot and responded to it. Big cover-up by politically connected lawyer family of a guy who needs to do some serious prison time. I hope they nail him, and the other members of his party as accessories!

[SteveM]

17. I wouldn't call him a "predator." They eat what they kill. This guy is...

a HyperPunk who enjoys harming and killing -- and the notoriety it brings, especially when he tools the system at will.

[bluedigger]

18. Good point.

He's definitely got a "Clockwork Orange" vibe.

[Callisto32]

19. Ah yes, the lawyer families.

As a "first generation to go to college" guy who is currently in law school, I can assure you that they tend to believe they are above the rest of us. Granted, I am painting with a broad brush, but...