James

BACKGROUND AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The federal Gun Control Act of 1968 (§ 921 et seq; (the Act)) has long prohibited possession of a firearm by any person convicted of a felony. (United States v. Hayes (2009) 555 U.S. 415, 418.) In 1996, Congress amended the Act to extend the prohibition to include any person ―who has been convicted in any court of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.‖ (§ 922(g)(9); United States v. Hayes, supra, at p. 418.) As pertinent here, the Act defines ―misdemeanor crime of domestic violence‖ (MCDV) as an offense that (1) is a misdemeanor under state law, (2) ―has, as an element, the use or attempted use of physical force, or the threatened use of a deadly weapon,‖ and (3) is committed by the victim‘s current or former spouse. (§ 921(a)(33)(A).) In October 1996, Scott R. James was arrested and charged with inflicting corporal injury on his (then) wife in violation of Penal Code section 273.5. Approximately two months later, James pled nolo contendere to battery, a misdemeanor violation of Penal Code section 242, and was placed on two years‘ probation.2 In 2008, James applied to be Further undesignated statutory references are to title 18 of the…