Felon Challenging Lifetime Gun Ban Post-Bruen Grilled by Court

The First Circuit struggled to accept a man’s appeal of the constitutionality of his lifetime post-felony ban on firearm possession, questioning whether he preserved his challenge and his characterization of himself as a non-violent offender.

In the appeal, Massachusetts resident King Belin claims his conviction for violating the federal felon-in-possession statute and later 51-month sentence infringed his Second Amendment rights as expounded in the US Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. Belin said he’s never been found to be a threat to others’ safety, a mark the justices set in another ...