Oh, Deer! Court: Felon Hunter Didn't Break Florida Gun Laws

By BRENDAN FARRINGTON, ASSOCIATED PRESS TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Sep 22, 2016, 4:09 PM ET

A Florida Supreme Court ruling Thursday is good news for felons who like to hunt, bad news for deer.

The court ruled that an appeals court was correct in overturning Christopher Douglas Weeks' conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm because the rifle he was hunting deer with was a replica antique weapon.

Weeks, his wife and his father researched the law banning felons from possessing guns and found an exception for antique guns and their replicas. He was dressed in camouflage gear and an orange safety vest with a replica of a 1918 .50 caliber muzzleloader rifle in his pickup truck when he was arrested in 2012 by a Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officer.

He was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm and sentenced to three years' probation. That sentence is now thrown out.

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Prosecutors had argued that the exception didn't apply because Weeks' rifle had a scope attached to it, so it wasn't a true replica. The Supreme Court rejected that argument.