It should be clear that the Court is not hereby holding that the State cannot constitutionally regulate firearms possessions by felons. It may. But the Court has, and is, ruling that a felony conviction by itself does not divest felons of their fundamental constitutional rights. In order to constitutionally regulate this fundamental right under a civil regulatory scheme, the State must provide procedural due process both before the deprivation of the right and at substantially related times post-deprivation, so as to allow a review of the determination that the citizen suffering the deprivation is within the class of citizens who pose the threat addressed by the felon firearm prohibition. The citizen subject to such a deprivation must have an opportunity to be heard and to present evidence on the issue of whether he should be divested of, or continue to be divested of, that fundamental liberty interest. The present Felony Firearm Act, N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-415.1 does not do this. Every citizen, regardless of prior convictions, is entitled to such due process of law. No citizen should ever be deprived of a fundamental constitutional right on any rationale without having an opportunity to be heard on that issue.
