An en banc United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on Monday reaffirmed its prior decision that the felon gun ban is unconstitutional as applied specifically to Bryan Range.
Range pleaded guilty in 1995 to making false statements in order to receive food stamps.
According to court documents, “His conviction was classified as a Pennsylvania misdemeanor punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment. That conviction precludes Range from possessing a firearm because federal law generally makes it ‘unlawful for any person . . . who has been convicted in any court, of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year’ to ‘possess in or affecting commerce, any firearm or ammunition.’”
The rest of Range’s criminal history “was limited to minor traffic and parking infractions and a summary offense for fishing without a license,” yet the time period of imprisonment possible for the food stamp conviction brought Range into conflict with the federal “felon-in-possession” law, therefore barring him from gun possession.
In 2020, Range sued in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and lost. He then appealed to the Third Circuit, which tested Range’s claims in light of Bruen (2022) and found he ” remained one of ‘the people’ protected by the Second Amendment.” The Third Circuit remanded the case to the district court for reconsideration. While in that process, the Supreme Court of the United States handed down Rahimi (2024) and vacated the Third Circuit’s decision, remanding it back to them for reconsideration.
On Monday, the Third Circuit again sided with Range, finding the “felon-in-possession” law “cannot be applied to Range who does not exhibit behavior intentionally threatening the life or safety of another. And there is no suggestion that Range threatens the government’s existence with sedition or treason. So disarming him is unnecessary to ensure the physical safety of the community, or the continuity of government.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio, a member of Gun Owners of America, a Pulsar Night Vision pro-staffer, and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and has a Ph.D. in Military History. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly: awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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