Posted on 03/18/2024 10:18:27 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
An illegal immigrant was wrongly banned from possessing guns, according to a recent ruling.
A federal law, Section 922 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code, bars illegal immigrants from carrying guns or ammunition. Prosecutors charged Heriberto Carbajal-Flores, the illegal alien, in 2020 after he was found in Chicago carrying a semi-automatic pistol despite “knowing he was an alien illegally and unlawfully in the United States.”
U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman rejected two motions to dismiss, but the third motion, based on a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, triggered the dismissal of the case on March 8.
“The noncitizen possession statute, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5), violates the Second Amendment as applied to Carbajal-Flores,” Judge Coleman, appointed under President Barack Obama, wrote in her 8-page ruling.
“Thus, the court grants Carbajal-Flores’ motion to dismiss.”
Lawyers for Mr. Carbajal-Flores had argued in the most recent motion to dismiss that the government could not show that the law in question was “part of the historical tradition that delimits the outer bounds of the right to keep and bear arms.”
In 2022, the Supreme Court determined that the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment “presumptively protects” conduct that is covered by the amendment’s “plain text.”
To justify regulations, governments must show that each regulation “is consistent with this nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation,” the high court said at the time. “Only if a firearm regulation is consistent with this nation’s historical tradition may a court conclude that the individual’s conduct falls outside the Second Amendment’s ‘unqualified command,’” it said.
“Lifetime disarmament of an individual based on alienage or nationality alone does not have roots in the history and tradition of the United States,” Mr. Carbajal-Flores’s lawyers argued.
They pointed to several rulings interpreting the Supreme Court’s decision, including an appeals court ruling that declared stripping a man convicted of a nonviolent crime of his gun rights was unconstitutional.
The government opposed the motion, noting that neither of the cited decisions applied to illegal immigrants and that the defendant ignored other rulings that did, including a 2023 ruling that found that Second Amendment rights aren’t afforded to illegal immigrants. The government also offered examples of laws that prohibited certain categories of people from carrying guns, including “individuals who threatened the social order through their untrustworthy adherence to the rule of law.”
But Judge Coleman ruled for the defendant, finding that the laws against untrustworthy people contained exceptions for people who signed loyalty oaths and were deemed nonviolent.
“The government argues that Carbajal-Flores is a noncitizen who is unlawfully present in this country. The court notes, however, that Carbajal-Flores has never been convicted of a felony, a violent crime, or a crime involving the use of a weapon. Even in the present case, Carbajal-Flores contends that he received and used the handgun solely for self-protection and protection of property during a time of documented civil unrest in the Spring of 2020,” she wrote.
“Additionally, Pretrial Service has confirmed that Carbajal-Flores has consistently adhered to and fulfilled all the stipulated conditions of his release, is gainfully employed, and has no new arrests or outstanding warrants. The court finds that Carbajal-Flores’ criminal record, containing no improper use of a weapon, as well as the non-violent circumstances of his arrest do not support a finding that he poses a risk to public safety such that he cannot be trusted to use a weapon responsibly and should be deprived of his Second Amendment right to bear arms in self-defense.”
An attorney representing Mr. Carbajal-Flores declined to comment. Federal prosecutors didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The ruling drew a range of reactions from people in the legal community.
“Supreme Court has said the ‘people’ are members of the political community,” Larry Keane, a lawyer for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, wrote on X.
“Illegal aliens in US are not part of the political community and thus do not have 2A rights.”
Kostas Moros, a lawyer who represents the California Rifle and Pistol Association, said that he also saw the issue that way.
“Bruen asks for a historical tradition of modern regulation that justifies the modern law, and one plainly exists here,” he wrote, noting that groups that have been disarmed in the past, including loyalists, have the common thread of being “outside of the political community.”
Matthew Larosiere, another lawyer, disagreed, writing in an analysis that all immigrants, even ones in the country illegally, are part of “the people” in the Second Amendment. His argument rested in part on the 14th Amendment, which applies to “any person within” the country.
“To find that illegal immigrants are outside of ’the people‘ protected by the Second Amendment, you must believe that the Framers were talking about a different ’people' in the First, Fourth, Ninth, and Tenth Amendments,” he wrote, adding later that he sided with the court in finding differences between historical laws such as the one that barred loyalists from owning guns and the law that applies to illegal immigrants.
Illegal aliens sacrifice their rights when they violate the rights and laws of others.
Well guess what two things happen next?
First, you start having illegals buying guns and we’re just a short step to the next black female state judges begin deciding that, “Yep, illegals who have some mythical constitutional right to the 2nd also have a right to vote as well.
Second, you think crime is bad now? Brutal crimes and murders will skyrocket as the Venezuelan gang bangers, ISIS, drug cartels arm up and create hell on earth. Then, absolutely everyone will suddenly be for gun confiscation. And whatever is left still standing will at last be wiped out.
The Constitution is for citizens and NOT for illegal, criminal invaders. Hurry up, November, and pray that President Trump begins massive removal of these Biden cancerous growths!
>> I’m not sure I want to trade ammo for supplies. Then the customer is armed.
There is that. I used to kid my prepper friends that hoard food and toilet paper: “You go ahead and hoard food and toilet paper, I’m hoarding ammo — ‘cause what else do I need to hoard?” :-)
Then again, in a rural community where you know your sellers and customers, it just becomes “money” — a recognizable, portable exchange medium with intrinsic value. Who knows, you may get some of your own back in the next transaction!
Congress needs to start taking names of lawless, renegade judges and impeach the lot of them. It will never happen with this Congress. But maybe the next one, if we see a MAGA wave in November. A man can dream.
Who has a problem with liberal cities and businesses getting all the Illegal murders? NYC and any liberal enclave Metro area are perfect places for illegals to plunder. Heck, they will even be let out, not charged, to assure Immigration authorities don't get them, thanks to Soros DAs.
I think this will be something to watch, with popcorn. Illegals will be shot, elsewhere.
Personally, there are few places that deserve armed illegals more than New York City, and they tout themselves as a sanctuary for such illegal beings.
Its an interesting argument, God given rights vs who the constitution protects, but I do believe you have the correct interpretation. Otherwise, why have borders? Our rights would have to be protected globally. The idea is ridiculous.
Awesome! Now the Chinese military that are now here courtesy of the Traitor Biden can now arm themselves.
This is the domestic version of the fast and furious operation. Arm all the illegal Venezuelan gang bangers, the cartel runners and every other third-world criminal and then people will demand gun confiscation.
The Judiciary is hamstrung by the Executive’s unwillingness to charge crimes equally. Law will be administered selectively.
This could open a big can of worms. How is a po” immy-grant supposed to exercise his, her, or other’s now adjudicated right to keep and bear arms? I’ll assume that Illinois has “universal background checks.” Do FOID cards now become “shall issue?” If they can’t open carry, can they be denied CCW permits?
And that sir is why I carry everywhere I go with extra mags..
Shoot first and ask questions later it seems..
Wall Street Silver
@WallStreetSilv
BREAKING:
INTERPOLS MOST WANTED fugitive makes it into the U.S.A. Cited and Released.
A Venezuelan national wanted by interpol and one of the most wanted cartel member in Colombia was able to make it through Joe Biden’s border.
Joe Biden needs to answer for this.
From the earlier thread on this subject:
Does the former Constitution say it applies to non-citizens as well as American citizens...
The logical result of this ruling clearly means that the migrant invader vermin also have the right to vote...
Let’s see:
- The MIVs have a right to welfare...
- The MIVs have a right to education...
- The MIVs have a right to medical care...
- The MIVs have a right to drive...
- The MIVs have a right to free housing...
- The MIVs have a right to arm themselves to rob & murder us...
- The MIVs have a right to bank accounts...
- The MIVs have a right to send tax-free money to foreign countries...
and, in half the states,
- The MIVs have a cultural-right to rape, murder, and pillage...
Gotta arm Biden’s brown shirts for the coming war.
Frickin blue gums
“Are we at war yet?”
We have been at war since Marx.
I ain’t gonna use up much ‘practicing’.
Stay there!
Indiana is full of hicks with guns - freely carried.
They be twitchy, too!
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