There is no sector of American society more adamant about keeping guns out of the wrong hands than lawful gun owners. That said, a lifetime ban on Second Amendment rights should require a high standard.
Current federal protocol falls far short of this mark.
Not all felonies are created equal and should equate to lifetime disarmament
That’s why the National Rifle Association (NRA) and Second Amendment Foundation just filed an amicus brief in United States v. Cordova, currently before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The gun rights groups strongly recommend a “dangerousness” standard that differentiates between violent felons and those who made a mistake that did not harm others and now lead a law-abiding life.
SAF Director of Legal Research and Education Kostas Moros explained that every American with a felony on their record should not automatically lose gun rights for life.
“Heller’s ‘presumptively lawful’ line was never a blank check for a lifetime ban on every peaceable American with a felony on his record,” he explained. “Historically, we disarmed dangerous people. We did not strip the Second Amendment right from those who broke the law without violence and then went back to living as ordinary, peaceable citizens. A permanent ban with no path to restoration is simply not how our tradition worked.”
Court equated Founding Era capital punishment with modern disarmament
The U.S. has no history of disarming peaceable citizens, and Founding Era laws even required that they possess arms.
The 5th Circuit has ignored this and set a dubious standard based on its interpretation of the late 18th century. The court previously concluded that the Founding Era imposition of the death penalty for particularly egregious lawbreakers justifies disarming every single felon for life.
Putting it mildly, that’s a major stretch.
Nonviolent felons who paid their debt to society and now live clean lives deserve a path to restoring their Second Amendment rights. No other enumerated rights come close to such restrictions, and it’s time to update federal policy.
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