A Chicago judge recently ruled, in the case of a felon convicted multiple times, that the statute barring felons from possessing handguns is unconstitutional.
The federal case was thrown out by U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman earlier this month.
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The felon was facing a mandatory minimum 15 year sentence if convicted of being in possession of a firearm.
Bill Kushner, ABC7’s police affairs consultant, called the ruling a letdown and said it ignores a decades-long practice.
‘The federal law prohibiting possession of firearms by convicted felons goes back to the 1930s and in 1961 it was broadened for a blanket lifetime ban on firearm possessions for all convicted felons,’ he said.
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‘The carjackings, the shootings, these are not just demonized youth, these are people that feel that they have a free hand to do whatever they want without fear of repercussions.’
Judge’s ruling
The judge’s ruling cites the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. vs. Bruen.
In his ruling, Gettleman said Bruen requires courts to inquire as to whether a statue imposes a ‘comparable burden’ on the right to bear arms as define by the Second Amendment, as well as a ‘distinctly similar’ or ‘relevantly similar’ historical analogue from the founding era.
The judge concluded the law ‘imposes a far greater burden on the right to keep and bear arms than the historical categorical exclusions from the people’s Second Amendment right. The government has not demonstrated why the modern ubiquity of gun violence, and the heightened lethality of today’s firearm technology compared to the Founding, justify a different result.’
