here's one i wasn't aware of. and find rather odd: https://reason.com/volokh/2019/01/15/many-foreign-tourists-and-most-foreign-s "Come from Canada or Japan for a short visit? Feel free to shoot at a range! Return on a student visa? Federal felony for you (and friends who take you) if you go shooting. Unless, of course, you've gotten a hunting license -- even if the range visit is completely unrelated to the hunting."
I think he may have gone a little too far in his assumptions... While rental may have been confirmed as meeting the definition of possession, I don't know that allowing someone to use your gun in your presence has. If it had then it would be a felony to allow a friend to use your gun with a suppressor on it unless the suppressor was registered to a trust that your friend was a part of. As far as I know that isn't the case, so I would guess similarly someone visiting would be allowed to use guns in the presence of the owner with no repercussions to the owner.
Well... I know of a german nonimmigrant visa holder who got himself an alaskian hunting license online a d went to the store to buy a firearm. Store calls FBI, all good, dude walks out with handgun. New to me is that renting (temporary possession in a confined area) poses an issue without having an online bought paper in tour pocket. That is just funny. Also new is, that the hunting license must be kept recent. Hm. Guess i will inform the dude.
I think you're correct that the author appears to have taken it a bit far, particularly as posed in your hypothetical. However, i wonder if the same holds true if you go to the range with someone on a non-immigrant visa and they rent the gun (not using yours)? I suspect that situation is closer to what the author was getting at. Also (and this is a different situation... i haven't researched it), what about taking a friend to the range who is a felon and allowing them to use your gun?
He referenced established case law in the article that showed that renting a gun is "possession" in this case which isn't legal, but using someone else's gun as they're nearby doesn't... Gun laws are great fun. This is an even more exciting case of gun laws being confusing... A felon is not allowed to have "possession" of a firearm either, but the definitions of possession are different. I did a fair amount of research on this because I have a roommate that is a non-violent felon but a felon nonetheless. For a felon, they are not allowed any type of possession, whether it be actual, constructive, or joint. Actual possession is as it sounds, having complete control of the firearm, either in your hand or on your person. Joint possession would be the case at the gun range, if the gun was laying on the table in front of both of you, it could be considered joint possession. Constructive possession simply means the firearm is in a place that you have control of. So if I left a firearm out in the house, or even locked it in a safe that he knew the combo to or had access to a key for, he could be found in constructive possession of a firearm... I ended up just putting a lock on the room I have my guns in even with them in a locked safe because I have reloading equipment and that's a bit of a grey area and I don't know if there is any established case law yet. Basically the simplest answer is if you're a felon you can't have anything to do with guns or ammunition.
