NRA brief argues lifetime gun ban for nonviolent felons lacks historical basis

The NRA and Second Amendment Foundation have filed an amicus brief in a Fifth Circuit case arguing that the lifetime federal gun ban on nonviolent felons has no real grounding in American legal history and treats the Second Amendment as a lesser right.

Snapshot

The brief argues that historically, firearm restrictions were reserved for people shown to be dangerous, not for anyone convicted of a felony regardless of the offense. According to Bearing Arms, the groups contend the Fifth Circuit should reject the idea that felon status alone justifies permanent disarmament, since the historical record shows peaceable nonviolent offenders often kept their right to keep and bear arms.

Key points

• Historical basis: The brief says colonial and nineteenth-century arms laws targeted people believed likely to commit violence or armed insurrection, not nonviolent offenders generally.
• No tradition of blanket bans: According to the brief, nonviolent felons historically retained gun rights, and some laws even required them to keep arms.
• Challenging the capital-offense rationale: The brief disputes the Fifth Circuit's reasoning that Founding-era capital punishment for some felonies supports today's permanent bans, noting many felonies were never capital crimes.
• Second-class treatment: The brief argues singling out the Second Amendment this way conflicts with Supreme Court instruction that it not be treated as a lesser right compared to other constitutional protections.

Quick take

Bearing Arms writer Tom Knighton argues that if voting rights can be restored to people convicted of serious violent crimes, it's inconsistent for gun rights to stay permanently stripped from someone convicted of a nonviolent offense like tax fraud. He adds that while he'd prefer truly dangerous offenders stay incarcerated, that's a separate question from whether Congress or a state legislature can permanently revoke a fundamental right simply by labeling an offense a felony.

Read the full story: bearingarms.com