Fifth Circuit: Lifetime Gun Ban for
Single Non-Violent Felony Violates 2A

A unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals which struck down the conviction of a Mississippi man for being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, based on an earlier conviction for possession of methamphetamine, violated his rights under the Second Amendment, is causing tremors in the gun rights community.

The case is known as U.S. v. Charles Hembree. Ammoland News is devoting a lengthy report to the ruling, as is attorney Mark W. Smith at the Four Boxes Diner podcast.

Hembree was convicted in 2018 of meth possession in a Mississippi state court. Four years later, in 2022, he was charged with violating federal statute 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), which bars firearm possession for life, for anyone convicted of a previous felony.

But Hembree, as noted in the Jan. 27 court ruling, filed a motion to dismiss that indictment, arguing that the lifetime ban "violates the Second Amendment as applied to him in light of the Supreme Court's decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen."

The federal district court denied the motion, but the Fifth Circuit took Hembree's appeal. …