State of Florida v. Christopher Douglas Weeks – Corrected Opinion

Summary

The court held that the felon-in-possession statute could be constitutionally construed by treating the ignition or firing system as the distinctive feature of a replica antique firearm. Applying the rule of lenity, it concluded that Weeks’s black-powder muzzleloader with a percussion-cap system remained within the statutory exception despite its attached scope, so it approved reversal of his conviction and vacatur of his sentence while rejecting the lower court’s vagueness rationale. The court also disapproved the contrary interpretation and limited an earlier decision to the extent inconsistent with this construction.