Fifth Circuit Rules Illegal Aliens Have No Second Amendment Right to Bear Arms
September 16, 2024
FAIR Take | September 2024
Late August, the Fifth Circuit affirmed that illegal aliens are not guaranteed a Second Amendment right to possess firearms. In reaching its decision, the Fifth Circuit relied on its 2011 ruling that illegal aliens are not “members of the political community” entitled to Second Amendment rights.
The current case arose when federal prosecutors charged Jose Paz Medina-Cantu, an illegal alien who had been deported multiple times, with illegal re-entry and illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition. Prosecutors based the illegal possession charge on 18 U.S.C. §922(g)(5)(A), which prohibits illegal aliens from owning or possessing firearms.
In district court, Medina-Cantu requested a dismissal of the charges on the grounds that Section §922(g)(5) is unconstitutional. Specifically, Medina-Cantu argued that Section 922(g)(5) violates the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which reads: “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” In short, Mandu-Cantu claimed that even though he is an illegal alien, he has a Second Amendment right to bear arms and that Section 922(g)(5)(A) unconstitutionally interferes with that right.
https://www.fairus.org/news/misc/fifth-circuit-rules-illegal-aliens-have-no-second-amendment-right-bear-arms
