Firearm Charge Against Man Accused of Stalking Revived on Appeal

A man who carried a loaded Smith & Wesson .38 revolver into an Idaho state courthouse can be prosecuted for violating a federal law prohibiting possession of a firearm by someone subject to a no-contact order, the Ninth Circuit said.

A federal district court in Idaho dismissed the charge after saying the statute was unconstitutional as applied to defendant Ryan VanDyke. But the United States has a “long historical tradition” of regulating the possession of firearms by people believed to present a danger of misuse, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said.

Such categories of people have ...