(LibertySons.org) – A federal judge has just ruled that a gun control law is unconstitutional –- but this time, even many supporters of the Second Amendment will probably think she’s gone too far. The case centered on an illegal immigrant who was arrested in Chicago four years ago for carrying a loaded handgun. Illegals aren’t allowed to possess, never mind carry, guns –- but this liberal judge wants to change that.
Immigrant Violated Multiple Gun Laws
On June 1, 2020, Chicago cops found Heriberto Carbajal-Flores in the city’s Little Village area. Carbajal-Flores was in the US illegally, and he was also carrying a loaded semi-automatic handgun. They arrested and charged him for violating Title 18, section 922 of the United States Code, which prohibits illegal immigrants from possessing firearms. He was also violating multiple Illinois and Chicago laws. In Illinois a Firearms Owners’ Identity card is required to buy or own a gun; he didn’t have one. Open carry is illegal, and concealed carry requires a permit; he didn’t have one. He obviously hadn’t bought the gun legally because, as an illegal immigrant, he couldn’t have passed a background check. In Illinois, private gun sales have to be done through a licensed dealer, and a background check is required.
Carbajal-Flores was clearly violating several laws, but his lawyers came up with a novel defense: They argued that he was carrying the gun for self-defense in the wake of the George Floyd riots that year, and the ban on illegals owning guns violated his Second Amendment rights; then they started filing motions to dismiss the charge. The first two motions were rejected, but the third one landed in front of US District Court Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman.
Coleman is an Obama appointee with a liberal record; on the face of it, she doesn’t look like a natural supporter of gun rights. However, this time, she ruled that prohibiting illegal immigrants from owning guns is unconstitutional. In her decision, she wrote that as “Carbajal-Flores’ (sic) criminal record [contains] no improper use of a weapon,” it’s impossible to say he’s a danger to public safety and can’t be trusted with a gun. Interestingly, the fact she refers to his criminal record implies that he has one, but Coleman insisted that despite having no right to even be in the US he still has Second Amendment rights.
The decision has divided opinions. Some Second Amendment advocates argue that “the people” whose right to bear arms is protected by the Second Amendment includes everyone in the country, even illegals. Others are pointing out that the US has banned various categories of people from owning guns, going right back to loyalists after the Revolutionary War. If we could deny guns to people whose only crime was not joining a rebellion, why can’t we deny them to foreign criminals who shouldn’t even be here?
~Here’s to Our Liberty!
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