Appeals Court Strikes Down Federal Gun Ban for Non-Violent Felon

A court has overturned a felon-in-possession ban for Bryan Range, ruling that a food-stamp fraud conviction doesn’t justify Second Amendment right restrictions.

A handgun in a holster in a file photo. David Ryder/Getty Images

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that Bryan Range, a Pennsylvania man convicted of food stamp fraud nearly three decades ago, cannot be barred from firearm ownership under federal law.

In a decision issued on Dec. 23, the en banc court reaffirmed its earlier ruling that 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), a federal statutory provision commonly referred to as the “felon-in-possession ban,” is unconstitutional as applied to Range, who has no history of violence.