Request By:
The Honorable Gene Huff
State Senator, 21st District
Box 693
London, Kentucky 40741
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of June 13 in which you relate that an individual in your senatorial district was nominated to the office of jailer in the recent primary election; however, this individual was found guilty of a felony several years ago but subsequently given a pardon and his right to carry firearms was restored. You have information however that the federal government will not honor his pardon and that a firearms disability form must be filed and a decision obtained from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms of the U.S. Treasury Department, before he can legally carry firearms. You also were told that federal approval might not be necessary because of his election to a constitutional office. Under the circumstances, your question is as follows:
"Specifically, my question is whether by virtue of his election to a constitutional office and the duties inherent therein, this officer-elect could legally carry firearms during his tenure as jailer. "
In order for a convicted felon to be qualified to vote and hold public office in this state his civil rights must be restored by an executive pardon of the governor as authorized in § 145 and § 150 of the Constitution. In addition and in order for a convicted felon to possess a handgun, he must be granted, pursuant to KRS 527.040, (a) full pardon by the governor or by the President of the United States, or (b) relief by the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury pursuant to the Federal Gun Control Act of 1968. Under the Federal Gun Control Act, Public Law 90-351, Title VII, § 1203, the executive pardon must expressly include the right to possess a firearm. Subsection (2) of § 1203 pertains to exemptions with respect to unlawful possession of firearms and reads as follows:
"This title shall not apply to -
* * *
"(2) any person who has been pardoned by the President of the United States or the chief executive of a State and has expressly been authorized by the President or such chief executive, as the case may be, to receive, possess, or transport in commerce a firearm. "
If the nominee in question has had his civil rights restored, together with his right to possess a firearm, by the governor, such would in our opinion be in sufficient compliance with the state constitution and Federal Gun Control Act, particularly § 1203, without the additional necessity of obtaining the approval of the U.S. Treasury Department. However, the fact that the office in question is a constitutional office would be of no significance with respect to your question.