US appeals court upholds federal ban on felons owning guns

Federal Appeals Court Upholds Gun Ban for Non-Violent Felons

A federal appeals court ruled Friday that the Constitution allows laws barring felons from owning guns, even if their past crimes were non-violent—finding such restrictions consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of disarming individuals deemed dangerous or lawbreaking. In a decision issued May 9, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena upheld a key federal gun control law, concluding that it survives the Supreme Court’s landmar…

US appeals court upholds federal ban on felons owning guns

By Jonathan Stempel

Montana Attorney General Leads 26-State Coalition Challenging Hawaii Gun Ban at Supreme Court

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is leading a 26-state coalition urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a Hawaii law that imposes broad restrictions on where law-abiding citizens can carry firearms. The coalition filed an amicus brief in the case Wolford v. Lopez, arguing that Hawaii’s so-called “sensitive places” firearm restrictions violate the Second Amendment. The challenged law… Source

En banc Ninth Circuit broadly rejects Second Amendment challenge to federal felon-in-possession prohibition

Yesterday the Ninth Circuit via a lengthy en banc ruling in US v. Duarte, No. 22-50048 (9th Cir. May 9, 2025) (available here), rejected a Second Amendment challenge to the federal criminal law, 18 USC § 922(g)(1), that makes it a serious felony for a person with the equivalent of a prior felony to possess a firearm. The full opinion with the opinion for the court and three additional opinions runs 127 pages. Helpfully, the start of the main opi…