Fifth Circuit Rules Out-of-State Handgun Ban Likely Violates Second Amendment
The Fifth Circuit Court, in a decision authored by Judge Jerry Smith, held that a state ban on selling handguns to non-residents infringes the Second Amendment.
In a recent Fifth Circuit opinion, Judge Jerry Smith, with Judge Kurt Engelhardt, found that a state law barring out-of-state residents from purchasing handguns likely violates the Second Amendment. The ruling emphasized that even a modest cost attached to exercising a fundamental right is problematic, especially when the ban imposes a fee beyond the handgun’s price. The court rejected the argument that the restriction merely offers “ample access” to those already permitted under state law.
Judge Catharina Haynes dissented, agreeing with the district court’s decision that upheld the ban. The plaintiffs, represented by David H. Thompson, Peter A. Patterson, William V. Bergstrom of Cooper & Kirk, PLLC, and Cody J. Wisniewski of the FPC Action Foundation, challenged the law, which also allows a licensee-to-licensee transfer workaround that gives third parties veto power over sales.
