A federal judge recently released an individual with a history of five felony convictions, who was initially looking at a mandatory 15-year prison sentence for a firearm-related offense. This decision was made in light of another federal judge’s ruling, deeming it unconstitutional to prohibit convicted criminals from possessing firearms.
In September 2021, Glen Prince, aged 37, was apprehended for inappropriately touching three men on a train in Chicago. At the time of his arrest, law enforcement discovered a stolen credit card, cocaine, and a fully loaded handgun in his possession.
Federal legislation prohibits individuals with felony convictions from possessing firearms, and Prince had been convicted of three armed robberies and aggravated battery of a police officer. However, earlier this month, Judge Robert Gettleman dismissed Prince’s case, allowing him to go free.
Referring to the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in Bruen, Judge Gettleman declared that the law prohibiting convicted criminals from possessing a firearm was in violation of the Second Amendment.
Although the judge acknowledged the risks associated with gun violence in communities and their potential impact on the Second Amendment’s orderly functioning, he contended that the prosecutors in the case did not successfully demonstrate that convicted felons should be excluded from those protected under the Second Amendment.
In his decision, Judge Gettleman expressed that, according to him, the federal prohibition on gun ownership for convicted felons posed a more significant threat to liberty than the 1791 law aimed at disarming colonists who declined to pledge allegiance to the newly formed United States.
The judge contended that the law preventing felons from possessing firearms imposes a more substantial restriction on the Second Amendment compared to the historical limitations on the Second Amendment rights of the general populace.
