Eleven gun groups ask the Fifth Circuit to limit federal gun prosecutions

The full Fifth Circuit is reconsidering whether Congress can make a felon's gun possession a federal crime simply because the gun once crossed a state line. Eleven gun-rights groups have filed a brief saying it can't, and Jared Yanis explains why the case could reach well beyond one defendant.

The short version

The case is United States v. Squire, now before the Fifth Circuit sitting en banc. Curtis Squire was convicted under 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1), which the government applies whenever a firearm has traveled in interstate commerce at any point, regardless of what the defendant did. A coalition led by Gun Owners of America argues that theory goes beyond Congress's power under the Commerce Clause.

Yanis says the brief leans on the original meaning of the clause, Madison's Federalist No. 42 and Chief Justice Marshall's opinion in Gibbons v. Ogden. Its centerpiece is United States v. Lopez, the 1995 ruling that struck down the federal Gun-Free School Zones Act. The groups argue Scarborough v. United States, the 1977 case the government relies on, interpreted an older statute and never settled the constitutional question.

Key points

• The coalition: Signers include Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners Foundation, Gun Owners of California, FRAC, the Tennessee Firearms Association and the Virginia Citizens Defense League.
• The statute: 922(g)(1) bars prohibited persons from possessing any gun that has ever moved in interstate commerce.
• Federal creep: The brief notes the first federal crimes act in 1790 created only 23 federal crimes, with ordinary crime left to the states.
• NFA tie-in: It cites the Silencer Shop Foundation case, where suppressors and SBRs now move without NFA paperwork, as evidence the sky doesn't fall when federal reach is limited.
• Louisiana weighs in: The state also filed a brief supporting Squire, which Yanis plans to cover separately.

Bottom line

Nothing changes tomorrow, but a Fifth Circuit ruling narrowing the interstate-commerce theory behind 922(g)(1) would reshape federal gun prosecutions in that circuit and invite Supreme Court review.

Source: Jared Yanis