2024 Missouri’s Expungement Law and the conflict with the Second Amendment

This program was originally presented at our 2024 MOSOLO Small Firm Conference, June 6-8, 2024

Webinar Description Update: In this webinar, Mr. Passanise, Mr. Heidemann and Mr. Allen demonstrate diligent and creative lawyering in action. They encountered clients with properly expunged criminal records who were denied firearms licenses and even arrested for firearms possession. As our speakers investigated and advocated for their clients, they uncovered a Kafkaesque Catch-22: highway patrol continues to send records of expunged individuals to the federal systems regulating firearms licensing; the federal systems then report expunged records back to local officials; local officials act on the reported criminal records; state and federal officials then each deny responsibility for managing the records produced by the other. Rather than throw their hands up in frustration, our speakers persistently explored every avenue to discover which court system was willing to order whom to break the cycle and restore the rights of their clients. Although the talk ends without the system being reformed, individual litigants now have more avenues for properly restoring their Second Amendment rights after expungement. Regardless of your stance on gun control, expungement, and the Second Amendment, our speakers offer a powerful model for successful advocacy.

Original Program Description: You successfully obtained an expungement for your client. The Judge signed the Order restoring your client to their status prior to the conviction. Job well done! But the same client contacts you soon after, indicating they tried to buy a weapon but were flagged for being a convicted felon; or indicating they were stopped for a traffic violation but then arrested as a Felon in Possession. Even though RSMo. § 610.140 (describing the process for expunging certain criminal records) does not specifically address restoring firearm rights, the District Court for the Western District of Missouri recently interpreted the statute to restore such rights. This session will explore how to advocate for clients caught in this gray area, including litigation in Federal court and filing Civil cases against the FBI to address the lack of recognition of Missouri Expunged Felonies. 

Focus points:

• How federal systems recognize or fail to recognize expungements.
• Addressing an influx of clients who have successfully expunged records and had rights restored, yet continue to be arrested, and are unable to purchase or possess firearms to hunt. 
• Helpful practical tips to defend your client’s firearm rights and understand what’s being done by firms at the Federal level to correct this situation. 

Speakers: Joseph S. Passanise, Wampler & Passanise, Springfield; Craig R. Heidemann, Douglas, Haun & Heidemann, PC, Bolivar; Nickolas W. Allen, Douglas, Haun & Heidemann, PC, Springfield

Opinions and positions stated by presenters of MoBarCLE programs are those of the presenters and not necessarily those of The Missouri Bar. This program is intended as information for lawyers in Missouri, in conjunction with other research they deem necessary, in the exercise of their independent judgment.