Raleigh, N.C. — The state Court Appeals on Tuesday upheld a 2004 law that keeps felons from owning certain weapons.

Wake County resident Barney Britt was convicted of a drug offense in 1979 and had all of his civil rights restored eight years later. But the state revised its laws in 2004 to forbid any convicted felon from owning small firearms.

Britt sued to overturn the law, saying it wasn't fair to strip him of rights he had won back years earlier.

A judge dismissed the lawsuit, and the appellate court upheld that decision. But the ruling could be appealed to the state Supreme Court because it wasn't a unanimous decision.