Court upholds ban that prohibits felons from possessing firearms
February 11th, 2010 - 1:17 am ICT by BNO NewsSACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA (BNO NEWS) – The U.S. Appeals Court expressed their support of the federal ban on convicted felons possessing firearms last Monday, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Peter Vongxay had been charged in the Eastern District of California, Fresno Division, with the crime of being a felon in possession of a firearm after being convicted previously three times, twice for car burglary and once for drug possession. Vongxay was found by members of the Fresno Police Department outside a Fresno nightclub with a loaded semiautomatic handgun.
After Vongxay’s conviction at trial, he was sentenced to five years in prison, but he later appealed saying that the federal statute prohibiting felons from possessing firearms was an unconstitutional infringement on the Second Amendment right to bear arms.
The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco unanimously declared the defendant’s conviction, as the panel stayed firm stating, “felons are categorically different from the individuals who have a fundamental right to bear arms.”
“We welcome the clear and well-reasoned ruling from the Court of Appeals,” U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner said today. “Prosecuting convicted felons who choose to possess and use firearms in our district is critical to our ability to ensure the safety of the community,” he added.
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