Summary
The Ninth Circuit affirmed Oscar Vazquez-Ramirez’s conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5)(A), which prohibits firearm possession by aliens who are illegally or unlawfully present in the United States. The court held that its prior intermediate-scrutiny approach was clearly irreconcilable with N.Y. State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen and applied Bruen’s historical-tradition framework. Assuming without deciding that unlawfully present noncitizens are protected by the Second Amendment, the court concluded that § 922(g)(5)(A) is consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the Ninth Circuit's intermediate-scrutiny framework for Second Amendment challenges to 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5)(A) remained valid after N.Y. State Rifle & Pistol Ass'n v. Bruen.
- Whether § 922(g)(5)(A), as applied to a noncitizen illegally present in the United States, is consistent with the Second Amendment under Bruen's text-and-history framework.
- Whether the denial of Vazquez-Ramirez's motion to dismiss the indictment should be affirmed.
Holdings
- The Ninth Circuit's prior holding that Second Amendment challenges to § 922(g)(5)(A) are subject to intermediate scrutiny is clearly irreconcilable with Bruen and is overruled.
- Assuming without deciding that noncitizens illegally present in the United States are among 'the people' protected by the Second Amendment, § 922(g)(5)(A) is consistent with the nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation and survives Vazquez-Ramirez's as-applied challenge.
- The as-applied Second Amendment challenge fails, and the denial of the motion to dismiss the indictment is affirmed.
- The concurrence would hold that 'the people' refers only to members of the nation's political community and therefore excludes illegal aliens, but this was not the holding of the court.
Key quotations
“Bruen establishes a two-step framework for evaluating Second Amendment challenges.” (at 5–6)
“As it is not necessary to resolve the issue in this case, like several of our sister circuits, we will assume without deciding that noncitizens illegally present in the United States could be considered part of “the people” protected by the Second Amendment.” (at 6)
“Accordingly, Vazquez-Ramirez’s as-applied challenge to § 922(g)(5)(A) fails.” (at 11)
“Illegal aliens are not among “the people” protected by the Second Amendment.” (at 34)
Factual background
Oscar Vazquez-Ramirez was born in Mexico and entered the United States unlawfully at age seven. He is not a United States citizen and has no lawful immigration status. In December 2021, police stopped him in Othello, Washington, for failing to yield at a crosswalk and found a firearm in his waistband; he was subsequently charged under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5)(A).
Procedural history
Vazquez-Ramirez was charged in the Eastern District of Washington under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5)(A). The district court denied his as-applied Second Amendment motion to dismiss, after which he entered a conditional guilty plea and received five years of probation. The Ninth Circuit reviewed the constitutional ruling de novo and affirmed.