(DailyAnswer.org) – U.S. District Judge for Northern Illinois Sharon Johnson Coleman has ruled that the Constitution protects the rights of illegal immigrants to own guns. Coleman claimed in her verdict that the federal prohibition on illegal aliens owning firearms was unconstitutional.
She argued that though the ban was superficially constitutional, there was historically no basis for depriving someone without U.S. citizenship of his Second Amendment rights if he has not committed a violent crime. Coleman determined that the ban did not apply to defendant Heriberto Carbajal-Flores, an illegal immigrant who was found with a handgun in his possession in Chicgo’s Little Village neighborhood on June 1, 2020.
Coleman, who was appointed by Barack Obama during his presidency, referred to the Supreme Court verdict in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen in 2022, which set a new standard to establish whether a law violates the Second Amendment. Since the ruling, numerous federal and state gun control measures have been challenged in courts with mixed outcomes. The decision highlights an apparent contradiction in stances on gun laws among the Democrats, who have pushed for bans on assault rifles.
The Republicans, in contrast, successfully pushed through new legislation at the then Democrat-controlled House in 2019 that opted to notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement when illegal immigrants attempt to purchase firearms. Republicans proposed an amendment to a broader gun background check bill to have illegal immigrants reported to the ICE by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System if they attempt to buy guns. The ICE can then decide whether to select them for deportation.
Coleman denied Carbajal-Flores’ previous motion to dismiss his indictment in April 2022, ruling that the ban was constitutional. Carbajal-Flores then requested the court reconsider that verdict following the Supreme Court’s decision in Bruen to assess whether those convicted of nonviolent crimes can be banned from owning guns. In her March 2024 ruling, Coleman wrote that the Court gave Carbajal-Flores’ motion to dismiss. The defendant, who has never been convicted of a felony or crimes relating to the use of a weapon or violence, claimed he bought the firearm for self-defense and to protect his property during a time of civil unrest in 2020.
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