Sixth Circuit panel rules federal prohibition of felon gun possession is “constitutional on its face and as applied to dangerous people”

August 25, 2024

A panel of the Sixth Circuit handed down an interesting and intricate opinion in US v. Williams, No. 23-6115 (6th Cir. Aug. 23 , 2024) (available here), which rejects a Second Amendment challenge to a federal illegal gun possession charge by a “dangerous” person with a felony record. The lengthy opinion for the Court concludes with this very helpful summary:

To summarize, we hold today that § 922(g)(1) is constitutional on its face and as applied to dangerous people. Our nation’s historical tradition confirms Heller’s assumption that felonin-possession laws are “presumptively lawful.” The history reveals that legislatures may disarm groups of people, like felons, whom the legislature believes to be dangerous — so long as each member of that disarmed group has an opportunity to make an individualized showing that he himself is not actually dangerous.

A person convicted of a crime is “dangerous,” and can thus be disarmed, if he has committed (1) a crime “against the body of another human being,” including (but not limited to) murder, rape, assault, and robbery, or (2) a crime that inherently poses a significant threat of danger, including (but not limited to) drug trafficking and burglary. An individual in either of those categories will have a very difficult time, to say the least, of showing he is not dangerous.

A more difficult category involves crimes that pose no threat of physical danger, like mail fraud, tax fraud, or making false statements. But such a case is not before us today.

In any event, district courts need not find a “categorical” match to a specific common-law crime to show that a person is dangerous. Rather, district courts should make fact-specific dangerousness determinations after taking account of the unique circumstances of the individual, including details of his specific conviction. Finally, when considering an individual’s dangerousness, courts may evaluate a defendant’s entire criminal record — not just the specific felony underlying his section 922(g)(1) prosecution.

Here, Williams availed himself of his constitutionally required opportunity to show that he is not dangerous—albeit after he violated the law, not before. Because his record demonstrates that he is dangerous, we reject his challenge. We thus affirm.

By my read, this opinion means that any and every person within the Sixth Circuit criminal charged with illegal firearm possession under 922(g)(1) — and perhaps other federal and state gun control provisions? — can now seek dismissal of that charge by making “an individualized showing that he himself is not actually dangerous.” In addition, I wonder if this Williams opinion might now provides a means for the millions of persons with non-violent felony convictions in the Sixth Circuit to seek a declaratory judgment that they are “not actually dangerous” and thus have a Second Amendment right to possess (and purchase) firearms like all their fellow citizens.

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