Al Capone, Neo-Nazis Spotlight Ninth Circuit’s Felon Gun Debate

Ninth Circuit judges at oral arguments Wednesday struggled with how to apply the US Supreme Court’s recent Second Amendment precedents to a federal law banning felons from owning guns, posing hypotheticals involving Al Capone and Neo-Nazi gang members.

A full 11-judge panel for the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the largest of the federal circuits, is reconsidering its prior ruling from a three-judge panel in May that found the federal firearms ban violates the Second Amendment rights of non-violent offenders.

At issue is whether the ban, which has no exceptions and is lifelong, comports with the nation’s ...