Court rules vet can't get gun after old conviction

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal appeals court says a Maryland veteran can't own a gun because of a misdemeanor assault conviction more than four decades ago. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia last Friday turned away an appeal from 68-year-old Navy veteran Jefferson Wayne Schrader, who sued after failing a 2008 background check. Schrader was convicted of misdemeanor assault and battery and fined $100 after a fistfight in Annapolis, Md., in 1968. Federal law says gun owners cannot have a state misdemeanor conviction with a possible sentence of more than two years. In 1968, Maryland did not have a maximum prison penalty for misdemeanor assault. The appeals court agreed Schrader could have been given more than two years in prison, and so he is ineligible to own a gun. Published: Tue, Jan 15, 2013