The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the conviction of Jaime Perez for being a felon in possession of a firearm. The court held that Perez's Second Amendment challenge to the federal statute is foreclosed by existing precedent.
Jaime Perez appealed his bench-trial conviction for violating 18 U.S.C. Section 922(g)(1), which prohibits felons from possessing firearms. Perez challenged the statute both on its face and as applied to him, arguing it violated the Second Amendment.
The court’s reasoning
The panel unanimously concluded that Perez’s Second Amendment claim is foreclosed by the court’s prior en banc decision in United States v. Duarte. That precedent explicitly holds that Section 922(g)(1) is constitutional as applied to non-violent felons.
What it means going forward
The decision reinforces the binding nature of Ninth Circuit precedent regarding the constitutionality of federal felon-in-possession laws, preventing challenges based on the non-violent status of the defendant.
