Following Bruen, Fifth Circuit Strikes Down Federal Law Prohibiting People Subject to Protection Orders From Possessing Firearms

First of all, I am writing this from my cell phone. So, apologies for formatting issues or typos.

Today, the United States Court of Appeals, for the Fifth Circuit, struck down a federal statute that prohibits individuals who are subject to protection orders from possessing firearms. And doing so, the court followed the United States Supreme Court’s decision last year in Bruen, which altered the legal framework courts must apply to determine if a law that affects a person’s right to bear arms for self-defense is constitutional under the Second Amendment.

The Fifth Circuit focused its constitutional analysis on 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(8), a federal statute that bars individuals from possessing or using firearms or ammunition if a civil order of protection has been obtained against them by intimate partners or close family members. It concluded that the Government could not meet its burden to show that this law had sufficient historical resonance to comport with America’s tradition of firearm regulation under the Second Amendment.

You can read the full decision here:

While this is a decision of only a single federal circuit, it may be the canary in the coal mine for the constitutionality of firearm restrictions caused by civil protection orders. I expect similar challenges will be lodged and will succeed in future cases in other jurisdictions.