A Second Amendment problem with Peltier?

Along with commentors, I have bemoaned the statutory problems and the practical craziness of the Fifth Circuit’s affirmance of a 10-year maximum sentence for a not-particularly-serious version of felon-in-possession in US v. Peltier, No. 05-30440 (5th Cir. Oct. 23, 2007) (available here).  And, with the Supreme Court now poised to consider whether the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep arms (a view I believe the Fifth Circuit has already embraced), I am now wondering whether there might be a serious Second Amendment issue lurking here.

Recall that in Peltier the defendant “pleaded guilty to one count of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1).”  Specifically, he possessed an “old, rusty .12 gauge shotgun stashed in an outdoor shed,” which he said “he kept … for personal protection.”  Of course, even if the Second Amendment confers upon individuals a right to keep arms, some reasonable restrictions on that right (just like reasonable restrictions on free speech/press rights) must be allowed in the name of public safety.  And perhaps even a total ban on felons possessing firearms might qualify as such a reasonable restriction in the name of public safety.

But at some point, if the Second Amendment does confer on individuals a right to keep arms, wouldn’t extraordinarily severe criminal punishments for non-threatening possession raise serious constitutional questions?  Don’t the penumbras of the Second, Fifth and Eighth Amendments cast a dark shadow on rulings like Peltier in which a defendant is deprived of 10 years of liberty by a judge simply for having a shotgun in his shed?

Perhaps I am trying to read too much into the Second Amendment, but cases like Peltier are one of many reasons I am keeping a close eye on the brewing gun litigation brouhaha.