TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida Supreme Court ruling is good news for felons who like to hunt, bad news for deer.
The court ruled Thursday that an appeals court was correct in overturning Christopher Douglas Weeks’ conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm because the rifle he was hunting deer with was replica antique weapon.
Weeks and his wife researched the law banning felons from possessing guns and found an exception for antique guns and their replicas. The Pensacola man had a replica of a 1918 .50 caliber, black powder muzzleloader rifle when he was arrested in 2012 by a Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officer.
The high court noted an appeals court judge’s comment that Weeks would have been in a “world of hurt” if he had to reload the weapon if a bear charged him.
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