Background
Stephen Biviano Zapata pled guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm as an unlawful user of a controlled substance in violation of Section eighteen United States Code Section nine hundred twenty-two subsection G three. The district court sentenced him to twenty-seven months in prison. Zapata appealed, arguing the statute was unconstitutional on its face under the Second Amendment.
The court’s reasoning
The court concluded that the district court properly denied the motion to dismiss. The court found that Zapata’s argument was foreclosed by circuit precedent, specifically United States versus Veasley. The court noted that the Supreme Court’s decision in United States versus Rahimi does not call into question this precedent.
What it means going forward
The ruling reinforces the binding authority of Eighth Circuit precedent regarding Second Amendment challenges to federal firearm statutes for unlawful users of controlled substances.