Lehman v. Pennsylvania State Police

What the court held

A man denied a rifle purchase because of a 1962 larceny conviction for stealing a $3.38 case of beer argued that applying the federal felon-in-possession bar, 18 U.S.C. section 922(g)(1), to that pre-enactment conviction was an ex post facto law. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court held the statute does not violate the federal or state ex post facto prohibitions and so could afford him no relief on that ground; his other constitutional claims had been treated as waived below. Two justices wrote separately, one noting that the same theft committed today would create no firearms disability.

Summarized from the court's opinion.

What this case is about

Pennsylvania firearms disability based on a decades-old felony larceny conviction

GunMapUSA summary of the issue, not a quotation from the court.

Key Dates

• 2003-12-30 — Decided

Sources

• CourtListener — retrieved 2026-08-08