On 04/15/98 WALTER LUFFMAN was overheard discussing life with JOHN
SAMPSON
WL>We're already in agreement from what I can tell, but I'll do
WL>a little good-natured nitpicking anyway....
OK by me. 
WL> -=> Quoting John Sampson to Walter Luffman <=-
WL> JS> Walt, you forgot the Lauttenberg ammendment making the possession of 

WL> JS> firearm by someone convicted of a crime of "domestic violence",
WL> JS> illegal. THAT lovely piece of LIbEral legislation is retroactive as
WL> JS> well. 
WL> JS> Cops, who had been hired by departments AFTER their moment of
WL> JS> stupidity, found themselves in danger of losing their jobs.
WL>Good intentions, poor thinking by the author, bad law.  Nothing
WL>unusual there, and conservatives are frequently guilty of
WL>equally stupid legislations.  But you're right, I had forgotten
WL>Lauttenberg.
You know what they say about the road to h*ll being paved with good
intentions. I don't believe, however, that Lauttenberg had good
intentions. He had political mileage in mind and NOT the Second
Ammendment.
I have yet to see a gun control law work in the manner it was intended
to work. ie. prevent a criminal from obtaining a firearm or preventing a
criminal from committing a crime.
WL> JS> Granted, domestic violence is not acceptable. However, to make a law
WL> JS> retroactive simply for political gain is just plain wrong. In fact,
WL> JS> making a law retroactive, generally, is improper.
WL>I've been trying to think of situations where making a law
WL>retroactive is a good idea.  There are a few examples, I
WL>suppose, but all I've come up with are laws that retroactively
WL>legalize a humanitarian action (such as cutting the red tape
WL>and recognising refugees from Cuba as political refugees during
WL>those first months following Castro's seizing control and
WL>establishing a Communist government).  And even those laws
WL>eventually turn around and bite you, unless safeguards are
WL>built-in and used or the laws are one-time-only acts.
See below.
WL> JS> There are some immigration laws that ARE retroactive. The definition
WL> JS> of "aggravated felony" has been expanded to include, among other
WL> JS> crimes, theft related offenses for which a sentence of one year or 
more
WL> JS> in jail was imposed (suspended sentences count).
WL> JS> It makes no difference as to when that conviction occurred. If it
WL> JS> happened, the offending alien is now an aggravated felon in the eyes
WL> JS> of the law. And as such, is removable.
WL>Yes, this qualifies as a retroactive law _if_ the offending
WL>alien was already in this country legally before it was
WL>enacted.  Otherwise, it isn't truly retroactive IMHO because
WL>it merely recognises the offender's previous history and makes
WL>entering the country (after the law was passed) with such a
WL>history (regardless of when the disqualifying offenses occured)
WL>illegal.
This is an interesting situation. Let me illustrate.
There are circumstances where a person is legally here (has an immigrant
visa or has adjusted status to permanent resident), has committed a
crime that several years ago didn't qualify as an aggravated felony but
does now. He may have NOT been placed in removal proceedings because at
the time either the crime he was convicted of wasn't a deportable
offense, OR, it was impractical to commence proceedings for whatever
reason.
However, NOW, he's an aggravated felon and therefore is most certainly
removable.
A good example is a person convicted of theft after five years of entry
as a permanent resident, who received a two year suspended sentence.
At the time of the conviction, it was a crime involving moral turpitude
(it still is of course), but in order for him to be deportable, he had
to be convicted of two crimes involving moral turpitude at any time
after entry or ONE crime involving moral tupritude within five years of
entry. Since that didn't happen, he was not deportable.
Now, by act of Congress, he is an aggravated felon and subject to
removal.
Thoughts?
John Sampson
Rocky Mountain ILKS
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