{"id":89896,"date":"2023-02-08T01:33:58","date_gmt":"2023-02-08T07:33:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=89896"},"modified":"2023-02-08T01:33:58","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T07:33:58","slug":"89896","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=89896","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe Framers Weren\u2019t Perfect, but They Weren\u2019t Fools\u201d: Biden Administration Loses Another Gun Rights Case<\/a><\/p>\n

We\u00a0recently discussed<\/a>\u00a0the ruling of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit striking down a ban on gun ownership by individuals accused of domestic abuse. Now, U.S. District Judge Patrick Wyrick in Oklahoma City dismissed an indictment against Jared Michael Harrison for violating a federal law that makes it illegal for \u201cunlawful users or addicts of controlled substances\u201d to possess firearms. It is only the latest such loss for the Justice Department as the Biden Administration pushes sweeping rationales for limiting Second Amendment rights in the wake of last year\u2019s ruling in\u00a0New York State Rifle\u00a0& Pistol Association v. Bruen<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Harrison was arrested by police in Lawton, Oklahoma, in May 2022 after a traffic stop where police found a loaded revolver as well as marijuana.<\/p>\n

Under 18 U.S.C. \u00a7 922(g)(3), Congress prohibited the possession of firearms by users of substances made unlawful by the federal Controlled Substances Act. The court noted that this provision \u201cis rarely used by prosecutors, as it accounts for only about 5% of prosecutions brought under \u00a7 922.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Justice Department argued that such a ban was \u201cconsistent with a longstanding historical tradition in America of disarming presumptively risky persons, namely, felons, the mentally ill, and the intoxicated.\u201d It is similar to the broad rationale used unsuccessfully before the Fifth Circuit. Indeed, the Justice Department again tried to argue that such bans are allowed because Bruen\u2019s described the plaintiffs in that case as \u201cordinary, law-abiding, and adult citizens.\u201d It is clearly an argument that the Biden Administration wants to push in cases across the country despite the rather poor reception from the courts. I agree with these judges that the reference is being radically overblown by the Justice Department. Indeed, it cuts against the department\u2019s credibility in arguing for Second Amendment limits.<\/p>\n

This latest loss shows the Biden Administration pushing a post-Bruen claim that could find itself back before a skeptical Court majority. Notably,\u00a0as discussed in the earlier post<\/a>, a similar issue was addressed by Justice Amy Coney Barrett when she was sitting as an appellate judge. This court also relies on Barrett\u2019s dissent in\u00a0Kanter v. Barr<\/em>, 919 F.3d 437, 451\u201353 (7th Cir. 2019) (Barrett, J., dissenting).<\/p>\n

In September, U.S. District Judge David Counts in Midland, Texas also struck down a firearms law that banned individuals under felony indictment from buying guns.<\/p>\n

The opinion by Judge Wyrick is very interesting in its comprehensive exploration of historical sources. It also dismantles the Justice Department\u2019s suggestions that marijuana users are both law breakers and threats to society:<\/p>\n

\u201cunder the United States\u2019 own conception of the historical tradition, such restrictions would only apply to those who are both unvirtuous and dangerous. And as explained above, because the mere use of marijuana does not involve violent, forceful, or threatening conduct, a user of marijuana does not automatically fall within that group.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I particularly liked this observation from the court about reading discretion into the amendment to bar those deemed untrustworthy by the government:<\/p>\n

[I]t would be odd indeed for the Framers to have incorporated such a trojan horse into the Second Amendment. The purpose of enshrining a right into the Constitution is to limit the discretion of a legislature. But if the United States\u2019 theory is correct and all a legislature must do to prohibit a group of persons from possessing arms is to declare that group \u201cuntrustworthy,\u201d then the Second Amendment would provide virtually no limit on Congress\u2019s discretion. The Framers weren\u2019t perfect, but they also weren\u2019t fools.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here is the opinion:\u00a0United States v. Harrison<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe Framers Weren\u2019t Perfect, but They Weren\u2019t Fools\u201d: Biden Administration Loses Another Gun Rights Case We\u00a0recently discussed\u00a0the ruling of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit striking down a ban on gun ownership by individuals accused of domestic abuse. Now, U.S. District Judge Patrick Wyrick in Oklahoma City dismissed an indictment against … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,24,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-courts","category-rights","category-rkba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=89896"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89896\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89897,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89896\/revisions\/89897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=89896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=89896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=89896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}