An Amishman who was found guilty of selling firearms without a license will have to wait until January for his sentencing hearing.
Reuben King, of Leacock Township, was convicted in May for selling rifles and shotguns without a federal license, despite no clear line in the legal code forbidding his actions.
U.S. District Judge Joseph F. Leeson Jr., who presided over King’s jury trial in Allentown, admitted there is “not a bright-line rule for how many firearm transactions it takes to trigger the need for a license.” King’s conduct, however, “clearly trips the trigger,” Leeson wrote in a court opinion.
King’s sentencing hearing had already been moved from September to November prior to the latest change pushing the hearing to January 23, 2024 at 2 p.m.
“I don’t know why the judge moved it,” Joshua Prince with Prince Law Offices told The Lancaster Patriot following the first rescheduling of King’s sentencing hearing, “but it isn’t uncommon for federal judges to do [so].”
Federal agents have confiscated more than 600 firearms from King – firearms King will likely never see again. King said he mostly sold to fellow Amish for hunting purposes, and selling firearms was not his main business. None of the weapons King sold – rifles and shotguns – required a federal license to sell.
King’s primary occupation is dairy farmer.
Following the guilty verdict, King filed a motion on June 7 to set aside the verdict. Prince argued in a Reply Brief in support of the motion that the Second Amendment protects King’s right to sell without a federal license. Leeson denied King’s motion to set aside the verdict.
King could be sentenced to up to five years in prison and fined up to $250,000.
this shows why there should be a written law that if the judge doesn’t know the law they are not to hear the case
in this instance he obviously doesn’t know how to handle this circumstance of people that can not have photo ID to purchase firearms. Reuben did nothing wrong just helping the community of amish to hunt who buys licenses to do so.
if you Can’t pass a law,invent an agency that forces you to get permits to do what you already have a right to do.then to ensure you can’t sue,have the courts say the agency that made the rule interpret the rule. this 8s called the Chavron doctrine, and the supreme court is hearing a case now about overturning it.