Fifth Circuit Strikes Down a Lifetime Firearm Ban

On December 17, 2025, america Courtroom of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit delivered a landmark ruling in United States v. Cockerham, placing down a lifetime firearm ban imposed beneath 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) as a violation of the Second Modification. This determination marks a major second within the ongoing debate over the scope of Second Modification rights, notably for people convicted of non-violent offenses. The case facilities on Edward Cockerham, whose sole predicate offense was failing to pay baby help, a criminal offense for which he served no jail time.

The Second Modification, which ensures the proper to maintain and bear arms, is acknowledged as a basic civil proper, akin to the protections afforded by the First, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments. The Supreme Courtroom’s determination in New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen clarified that firearm laws should align with the nation’s historic custom of firearm regulation to go constitutional muster. The Fifth Circuit’s evaluation in Cockerham adheres to this framework, emphasizing that historical past, not worry of firearms, should information judicial assessment.

The courtroom’s scrutiny targeted on § 922(g)(1), which prohibits any particular person convicted of a criminal offense punishable by multiple yr in jail from possessing a firearm. This statute is notably broad, encompassing each violent and non-violent offenses and making use of a lifetime ban even to those that have by no means been incarcerated. The Fifth Circuit highlighted the regulation’s overreach, noting that it might ensnare people for conduct that was beforehand harmless because of the proliferation of legal legal guidelines. As an example, the courtroom cited a hypothetical the place an ex-felon father, performing to guard his baby, takes a loaded gun from a schoolboy and calls the police—but nonetheless faces prosecution beneath § 922(g)(1).

Cockerham’s case hinged on his conviction for failing to pay baby help beneath Mississippi regulation, which carried a possible five-year jail sentence however resulted in solely probation. After repaying the debt and finishing probation, he was later indicted for possessing a firearm primarily based solely on this prior conviction. He argued that § 922(g)(1) violated the Second Modification each as utilized to him and on its face, alongside claims beneath the Commerce Clause, Equal Safety Clause, and a vagueness problem. The district courtroom denied his motions to dismiss, however the Fifth Circuit reversed, specializing in the as-applied Second Modification problem.

The courtroom utilized the two-step Bruen framework. First, it confirmed that the Second Modification’s plain textual content encompasses Cockerham’s possession of a firearm. The federal government failed to indicate that this exercise falls outdoors the Second Modification’s authentic scope. Shifting to the second step, the courtroom examined whether or not § 922(g)(1)’s utility to Cockerham is in step with historic custom. This step required figuring out a “relevantly comparable” historic analogue, assessed by the way and foundation on which the regulation burdens the proper to armed self-defense.

The federal government analogized Cockerham’s offense to theft, citing United States v. Diaz, by which everlasting disarmament was upheld as a consequence of a theft conviction, primarily based on extreme Founding-era punishments equivalent to capital punishment and property forfeiture. Nevertheless, the courtroom rejected this analogy. On the Founding, debtors’ prisons existed, however debtors had been launched upon reimbursement, not like thieves, who remained incarcerated even when stolen items had been returned. The federal government conceded this distinction throughout oral arguments, undermining its place. Since Cockerham had totally paid his baby help debt by the point he possessed the firearm, no historic justification supported his disarmament, not to mention a lifetime ban.

This ruling aligns with current Fifth Circuit precedents, together with United States v. Mitchell and United States v. Doucet, which held that historic custom doesn’t help the specific disarming of people convicted of nonviolent offenses. The courtroom criticized § 922(g)(1) as “wildly overinclusive,” a view echoed by students, judges, and civil rights consultants. The Supreme Courtroom has described such legal guidelines as “presumptively lawful” (Rahimi), implying that as-applied challenges can succeed if historic help is missing, a chance the Fifth Circuit affirmed right here.

The federal government’s various arguments additionally faltered. It recommended Cockerham might need incurred new baby help debt, however the courtroom famous § 922(g)(1) depends on convictions, not allegations. A declare concerning probationary supervision was equally dismissed as a result of Cockerham was not on probation. The courtroom concluded that completely disarming Cockerham exceeded historic observe and violated the Second Modification.

This determination reverses Cockerham’s conviction and remands the case for additional proceedings. Whereas different constitutional challenges had been foreclosed by precedent, the as-applied ruling reinforces that Second Modification rights can’t be stripped with out historic grounding.

About John Crump

Mr. Crump is an NRA teacher and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed folks from all walks of life, and on the Structure. John lives in Northern Virginia together with his spouse and sons, comply with him on X at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.