Federal appeals court rules some nonviolent felons can legally own guns

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has decided that the federal law barring convicted felons from having guns violates the Second Amendment when applied to certain people whose records show no violence or threats suggesting they might misuse a firearm. The Tuesday decisions give appellate guidance on when the prohibition may be enforced, and they came from a court with several Trump appointees, according to Fox News.

In one case, the judges kept the charges in place against James Bost. After a 2002 carjacking in Pennsylvania, he pleaded guilty to a group of state offenses that included threats and false imprisonment, and he was later charged federally after authorities found him with a gun. He asked for dismissal on Second Amendment grounds and lost. Judge Stephanos Bibas, a Trump appointee writing for the majority, reasoned that people whose crimes show a danger of physical violence with guns can be disarmed based on those convictions alone, before the danger materializes.

In the second case, the court sided with Edward Williams. His only disqualifying history was drunk-driving convictions from the early 2000s, one of which triggered the ban, which generally reaches offenses punishable by more than a year in prison.

Summarized by PolitiKool from Fox News’s reporting. Read the full story at Fox News →