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Court rejects Second Amendment challenges to 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1)

By Candace Hom, Melinda Ghilardi, Nancy Rimmer, Sarah Gannett, Renee Pietropaolo and Tieffa Harper

Defendant James Barton entered a conditional guilty plea to two counts of being a felon-in-possession of a firearm and ammunition, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), reserving the right to argue on appeal that those convictions violated his Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. The Third Circuit rejected Barton's challenges, holding that § 922(g)(1) was constitutional both on its face and as applied to Barton. See United States v. Barton, No. 09-2211 (3d Cir. March 4, 2011).With respect to Barton's facial challenge, the Third Circuit concluded that it was bound by the Supreme Court's decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008), to reject that challenge. The Heller Court found that the individual right to keep and bear arms, while fundamental, was not unlimited, id...continue to full post

Full post as published by Third Circuit Blog on March 07, 2011 (boomark / email).