Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

If you were convicted of a felony, the answer is no. Convicted felons cannot possess firearms.

Penal Code 422, criminal threats, is a "wobbler," meaning it can be charged as a felony or a misdemeanor. (It is also listed as a serious felony, making it a strike under the Three Strikes law.) You can petition the court to reduce a felony conviction to a misdemeanor.

If you were convicted of a misdemeanor, or were successful in getting your conviction reduced to a misdemeanor, the answer is "maybe." Under California Penal Code 12021(c)(1), a misdemeanor 422 carries a ten year firearm ban.

However, if your misdemeanor involved domestic violence, federal law prohibits you from possessing a firearm for life.

I would strongly suggest requesting a Personal Firearms Eligibility Check (PFEC) from the California Department of Justice if you want a definitive answer.

http://ag.ca.gov/firearms/pfecfaqs.php

Please understand that this is a general discussion of legal principles by a California lawyer and does not create an attorney/client relationship. It's impossible to give detailed, accurate advice based on a few sentences on a website (and you shouldn't provide too much specific information about your legal matter on a public forum like this, anyway). You should always seek advice from an attorney licensed in your jurisdiction who can give you an informed opinion after reviewing all of the relevant information.

Conviction or any felony or domestic violence charge makes you a 'prohibited person' for life. The only way you can change that, is to seek a court order from the convicting court removing the firearms ban. If you're serious about 'trying' that, on the basis of good cause sufficient to convince a judge to do so, feel free to contact me to discuss the good cause and issues.

I'm really puzzled by Mr. Nelson's repeated posts about court orders to remove statutory firearm bans.

The only authority under California law for relief from the firearm restrictions is in Penal Code 12021(c)(2), which allows a judge to lift the ban for peace officers, convicted of certain offenses, whose livelihood depends on their ability to carry a gun.

However, most of those offenses would constitute domestic violence of stalking, so even if a state court judge granted the motion, it wouldn't help with the Federal firearm ban.

As a reality check, I consulted with 2,000 other criminal defense colleagues in California who subscribe to an email list... and none of them ever heard of any legal authority for a judge to grant the sort of motion Mr. Nelson is talking about.