The law seems clear—you get convicted of a violent felony, you’re banned from touching a firearm for the rest of your life.
Get caught with a firearm and you go to prison for up to 15 years.
But some believe there’s a loophole big enough to fire a fifty-caliber bullet through.
Theresa Heinen lives in fear, knowing a man who threatened to kill her is set to get out of prison in two months.
"We've discussed moving, but I'm not running. I won't run," said Theresa.
It started with phone calls, one early Sunday in 2006.
Jeffrey Heinen, her husband's brother, was on the other end of the line.
"Calls you all kinds of filthy names and says how we're to blame for all his problems," Theresa said.
The anger turned to outright threats, spelled out in dozens of messages on their answering machine, threatening to kill her.
"He'd left a message that he was going to blow me up on Monday when my husband wasn't home," Theresa said.
Deputies responded to Jeffrey Heinen's home.
After an eight-hour standoff and a volley of tear gas, deputies found him in a crawl space under his garage.
They also found a fifty-caliber rifle, equipped with a scope.
Because of a previous stalking conviction, Heinen was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. Theresa was relieved.
"Oh, absolutely. It was like, good! Gives us at least ten years of peace and quiet and knowing that you're safe," she said.
So why is Heinen set to get out after just a year in prison? The prosecutor dropped the firearm charge.
"They just said it was an antique," Theresa said.
The fifty-caliber rifle was a muzzleloader—an updated version of the rifles used by the likes of Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone.
Under federal law, muzzleloaders are considered antiques or replicas—not firearms—an exemption aimed at people like the members of the Twin City Muzzle Loading Club, who help keep the history of black powder weapons alive.
But that exemption also made it possible for 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS to go online and order a modern muzzleloader like the one Heinen had.
No background check, just a credit card number and a shipping address. It arrived a couple of days later, nearly ready to fire.
"Well they're both black powder guns. They're loading basically the same way," said Dave Nason with the Twin Cities Muzzle Loading Club.
But there are differences. Dave Nason's has a wooden stock and fires a lead ball. Ours has a plastic stock and fires a more accurate bullet.
And while Nason finds the target with a site, you can mount a high-powered scope on ours.
Nason says this kind of modern muzzleloader would not likely be collected by history buffs and it would be used more for hunting.
But is it a firearm? Does the way its loaded and the time it takes to load it make it any less dangerous?
Representative Joe Mullery, DFL, would like to change the law and make muzzleloader buyers pass the same type of instant background check required for buyers of other rifles and shotguns.
"I certainly don't think that somebody should be carrying around this if they can't carry around a .22," he said.
He believes it is illegal for a convicted violent felon to have a muzzleloader in Minnesota, unless it's specifically for historical or curiosity purposes.
Mullery believes Stearns County should not have dropped the firearms charge against Jeffrey Heinen.
"I talked to prosecutors who I think are pretty knowledgeable and I talked to our House research attorneys who work on the gun laws and they said it was clear," Mullery said.
Mullery says he'll contact sheriffs and prosecutors statewide to make sure they understand the law as he sees it; a decision he made after we brought the Heinen case to his attention.
Too late for Theresa Heinen.
She now has a gun of her own and is training to protect herself and her family. And unlike Jeffrey Heinen, before Theresa could buy her gun, she had to get a permit and pass a background check.
The Stearns County Attorney’s Office did not return repeated calls for comment on the Heinen case.
Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 7:39 pm
