Federal Ban on Interstate Handgun Sales Ruled Unconstitutional

On Friday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit determined that the federal prohibition against interstate handgun sales goes against the Second Amendment.

The CQ Almanac mentioned that this ban originated from the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, which was later expanded by the Gun Control Act of the same year, signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson, a Democrat.

According to the Fifth Circuit’s assessment, the government’s reasoning for the ban’s historical justification relies on the idea that when Congress enacted these laws, it aimed to tackle public safety concerns, specifically that individuals considered dangerous might bypass state regulations intended to ensure that only law-abiding citizens could obtain firearms by making purchases across state lines.

However, this rationale did not hold up under the examination set forth by the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision from 2022.

The Firearms Policy Coalition, one of the plaintiffs in this case, pointed out that the Fifth Circuit concluded that the right to keep firearms inherently includes the right to purchase them, implying that a restriction on buying handguns from a state other than one’s home state infringes on that right.

Additionally, the First Circuit highlighted that the ban contradicts the clear text of the Second Amendment and does not align with the longstanding American tradition of firearms regulation dating back to the founding period.