Fifth Circuit panel rejects Second Amendment challenge to federal felon in possession for defendant with prior car theft offense

The Fifth Circuit earlier this week added still more nuances to Second Amendment, felon-in-possession jurisprudence through a panel opinion in US v. Diaz, No. 23-50452 (5th Cir. Sept. 18, 2024) (available here). As noted in posts linked below, since the Supreme Court's Rahimi opinion, the Eighth Circuit has categorically rejected Second Amendment challenges to § 922(g)(1), which criminalizes all possession of all firearms by all those with a felony conviction, whereas the Sixth Circuit has upheld this law "as applied to dangerous people."   The Fifth Circuit has now upheld the law in a slightly different way, in this case as applied to a person convicted as a car thief based on the fact that there were Founding era laws "authorizing severe punishments for thievery and permanent disarmament in other cases." 

The full Diaz ruling is interesting, especially for its variation in method in applying Bruen and Rahimi to reject challenges to § 922(g)(1).  Practically speaking, in the run of criminal cases typically brought as felon-in-possession prosecutions, the different jurisprudential approaches adopted the different circuits may not matter all that much.  But this is still a big deal not only for anyone trying to figure out Second Amendment law to advise individuals with a criminal past who wish to own guns, but also for any number of others seeking clarity on the allowable rules and constitutional limits for firearm regulation.  And the fact that three circuits have taken three different approaches to this (frequently litigated) issue is yet another signal that this matter will likely have to be taken up by SCOTUS sooner rather than later.  

A few of many prior related posts:

• After Rahimi, can Donald Trump legally possess a gun? How about Hunter Biden? 
• Noting just some of the continuing litigation and uncertainty about gun rights after Rahimi 
• Ninth Circuit grants en banc rehearing of panel ruling that federal felon-in-possession criminal law is unconstitutional 
• After Rahimi remand, Eighth Circuit panel again rejects Second Amendment challenge to federal felon in possession charge
• Sixth Circuit panel rules federal prohibition of felon gun possession is "constitutional on its face and as applied to dangerous people"
• New report details that persons with felony records have brought most gun litigation after Bruen changed Second Amendment law