Tenth Circuit panel rejects new challenge to federal felon-in-possession gun prohibition after Bruen
The Tenth Circuit handed down a panel ruling on Friday in Vincent v. Garland, No. 21-4121 (10th Cir. Sept. 15, 2023) (available here), which deepens the still-developing divides surrounding federal criminal gun prohibitions after the Supreme Court’s Bruen ruling last year. Here is how the court’s opinion in Vincent starts:
Roughly 50 years ago, Congress banned the possession of firearms by convicted felons. Gun Control Act of 1968, § 922(h)(1), Pub. L. No. 90 618, 82 Stat. 1213, 1220 (codified as amended at 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1)). After Congress enacted this ban, the Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment guarantees a personal right to possess firearms. District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570, 595 (2008). Based on the Court’s language, we upheld the constitutionality of the ban on convicted felons’ possession of firearms. United States v. McCane, 573 F.3d 1037, 1047 (10th Cir. 2009).
The Supreme Court has recently created a new test for the scope of the right to possess firearms. N.Y. State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n, Inc. v. Bruen, 142 S. Ct. 2111, 2129–30 (2022). Based on the Supreme Court’s creation of a new test, the plaintiff challenges the constitutionality of the ban when applied to individuals convicted of nonviolent felonies. To resolve this challenge, we must consider whether the Supreme Court’s new test overruled our precedent. We conclude that our precedent has not been overruled.
A few (of many) prior recent related posts:
- Are all broad felon-in-possession criminal gun statutes now constitutionally suspect after Bruen?
- Federal judge orders briefing on whether to appoint historian to resolve challenge to federal felon gun possession ban after Bruen
- Eighth Circuit panel rejects constitutional challenge to federal felon-in-possession prohibition
- En banc Third Circuit rules, based on Bruen, that federal felon-in-possession law is unconstitutional when applied to nonviolent, nondangerous offender
- Bruen brouhahas: split Seventh Circuit panel remands for “Ph.D.-level historical inquiry” on felon in possession
- US District Court concludes Second Amendment requires dismissal of federal felon-in-possession prosecution