Treaty Hunting Rights Not A Defense to Felon-in-Possession Charge

US v. Fox, No. 08-2190, 7/29/09 - Defendant, a Navajo with prior felony convictions, was found in possession of a shotgun and rifle on the reservation. He claimed that the treaty establishing the reservation conferred on him the right to hunt there with firearms, and that 18 USC § 922(g)(1), which generally prohibits firearm possession by convicted felons, did not apply to him because there was no clear evidence that Congress had actually considered the effect the statute would have on his treaty right. The district court denied defendant’s motion to dismiss and precluded him from raising this defense. On appeal following a conditional plea, the 10th affirmed. It agreed that the treaty did confer an individual right to hunt with firearms, but defendant’s own actions divested him of that right, and the treaty itself envisioned that Navajos who committed crimes on the reservation would thereby lose certain treaty rights.