Thread: Second Amendment Does Not Apply to Illegal Immigrants, Court Says

Second Amendment Does Not Apply to Illegal Immigrants, Court Says

The Richmond, Va.-based federal appeals court agreed that the Second Amendment does not cover undocumented aliens, because they are not law-abiding citizens.

By Courthouse News, Wed, December 19, 2012

(CN) - The Second Amendment right to bear arms does not extend to people who are in the United States illegally, the 4th Circuit ruled.

While searching Orangeburg, S.C., home of Mexican national Nicolas Carpio-Leon, immigration agents found a .22 caliber Marlin rifle, a 9 mm Hi-Point pistol and ammunition.

Carpio-Leon, who had lived in Orangeburg for 13 years and had three American-born children, claimed that he kept the firearms for the protection of his home and his children. He admitted he was in the United States illegally, and had used a false Social Security number to get a driver's license.

Prosecutors indicted Carpio-Leon in 2011 for possessing firearms while being illegally in the United States and for entering the country illegally.

A federal judge refused to dismiss the charges, and rejected Carpio-Leon's argument that the U.S. government had violated his constitutional rights.

Carpio-Leon then pleaded guilty to the charges, but he retained the right to appeal his constitutional arguments.

The Richmond, Va.-based federal appeals court agreed that the Second Amendment does not cover undocumented aliens, because they are not law-abiding citizens.

"On Carpio-Leon's Second Amendment challenge, we conclude that the scope of the Second Amendment does not extend to provide protection to illegal aliens, because illegal aliens are not law-abiding members of the political community and aliens who have entered the United States unlawfully have no more rights under the Second Amendment than do aliens outside of the United States seeking admittance," Judge Paul Niemeyer wrote for the panel Friday.

Carpio-Leon had argued that illegal aliens have the right to keep firearms in their homes for their families' protection, even though they are unlawfully present in the United States. He contended that the Second Amendment could not have been intended to exclude illegal immigrants from its protection, because, at the time it was adopted, "attitudes toward immigration were the reverse of today's attitudes." But the appeals court noted that, historically, the constitutional right to bear arms had been reserved for law-abiding, responsible citizens.

The Second Amendment has limits and excludes various categories, including felons convicted of violent crimes and illegal aliens, the opinion states.

"Thus, the Second Amendment does not guarantee the right to possess for every purpose, to possess every type of weapon, to possess at every place, or to possess by every person," Niemeyer wrote.

The court also dismissed Carpio-Leon's Fifth Amendment challenge, finding that barring undocumented aliens from possessing firearms is justified by the government's interest in public safety.

While undocumented aliens are "persons" guaranteed due process of law by the Fifth and 14th Amendments, they are "harder to trace and more likely to assume a false identity," and are already living outside the law, giving the government a legitimate interest to prohibit them from bearing firearms, the opinion states.

The court dismissed as irrelevant evidence that Carpio-Leon said would show that undocumented workers are no more dangerous to society than legal aliens or American citizens.

Courthouse News Service

ADDED TO ALIPAC HOMEPAGE News with amended title ..

http://www.alipac.us/content/second-...urt-says-1236/

Originally Posted by HAPPY2BME

(CN) - The Second Amendment right to bear arms does not extend to people who are in the United States illegally, the 4th Circuit ruled.

The Richmond, Va.-based federal appeals court agreed that the Second Amendment does not cover undocumented aliens, because they are not law-abiding citizens.

"On Carpio-Leon's Second Amendment challenge, we conclude that the scope of the Second Amendment does not extend to provide protection to illegal aliens, because illegal aliens are not law-abiding members of the political community...."

At last!!!

The people who wrote the 14th Amendment were clear about its not applying to foreigners, because they owe allegiance to a foreign government. Perhaps this decision will lead to other federal justices stating that illegal aliens still owe allegiance to their home governments. Which of course they do. This will end the absurd practice of granting citizenship to illegal anchor babies!

We can certainly apply our laws to foreigners. For example if they are caught shop lifting and are convicted in an American court, they can be put into an American jail. But putting them in jail does not transform them into citizens.
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Note: This ruling applies to LEGAL immigrants ONLY ...


Federal judge rules immigrants have same gun carrying rights as citizens

[JURIST] A judge for the US District Court for the District of New Mexico[official website] ruled Monday that the Constitution's Equal Protection Clause mandates that legally residing immigrants be afforded the same rights to obtain a concealed-carry weapon permit as citizens. Judge M. Christina Armijo held [Washington Times report] that there was no evidence showing that granting permits to legal immigrants is more dangerous than granting them to citizens and that the state had provided no support for its contention that its compelling interest in public safety was supported by the law's citizenship requirement. The suit was brought by John Jackson, an Australian immigrant in conjunction with the Second Amendment Foundation [advocacy website]. Attorneys for the state argued that the classification did not discriminate, but that even if it did the discrimination was reasonable based on the difficulty of obtaining background information on immigrants from their home countries, an argument the court rejected. The ruling granted a permanent injunction against enforcement of the law. The legal issues raised are in light of the Supreme Court's determination that the rights provided by the Second Amendment are personal rights, but federal courts have disagreed over whether the afforded protections apply only within ones home or to actions in public, such as carrying a concealed weapon.

Second Amendment rights are a hotly contested [JURIST op-ed] political issue in the US, as is the authority of federal and state governments to restrict the right or to place conditions upon its exercise. In February the Supreme Court denied [JURIST report] to hear three gun rights cases without issuing an opinion. Earlier that month the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] overturned [JURIST report] a California statute requiring a showing of "good cause" to obtain a concealed carry permit, holding that such restrictions undermine the constitutional significance of the right granted by the Second Amendment. Conversely, a district court in New York in January upheld [JURIST report] the New York SAFE Act, one of the most restrictive gun laws in the nation, as constitutional, with the exception of a limitation mandating that no firearm be loaded with more than seven rounds at a given time. In September the Illinois Supreme Court struck down [JURIST report] a state law saying that by practical effect it placed a ban on carrying guns outside of the home in violation of the Second Amendment, agreeing with case law precedent promulgated by the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit [official website].

Fearless Illegals Caught Breaking Into Homes In Search of Guns