In United States v. Vazquez-Ramirez, --- F.4th ---, No. 24-3544 (9th Cir. 2026), the Court affirmed Oscar Vazquez-Ramirez’s conviction for violating 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5)(A), which prohibits persons “illegally or unlawfully in the United States” from possessing a firearm. Vazquez-Ramirez moved to dismiss the indictment, raising an as-applied Second Amendment challenge to § 922(g)(5)(A).
"We join all our sister circuits in concluding that the Second Amendment does not invalidate § 922(g)(5)(A)."
As it is not necessary to resolve the issue in this case, like several of our sister circuits, we will assume without deciding that noncitizens illegally present in the United States could be considered part of “the people” protected by the Second Amendment. And like our sister circuits, we conclude that the government has met its burden to show that § 922(g)(5)(A) is consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation."
Section 922(g)(5)(A) fits comfortably with the “how” and the “why” of our Nation’s regulatory tradition of disarming noncitizens and those who have not sworn allegiance to our country. See Rahimi, 602 U.S. at 692. First, the federal statute has a similar “how” to historical statutes. It disarms persons unwilling or unable to swear the oath of allegiance and loyalty to the United States. . . . Aliens cannot 'surreptitiously enter a foreign nation in violation of the immigration prerogatives of the sovereign and expect to receive all the rights and protections of the citizenry.'"
Judge Bumatay concurred because he "would hold that 'the people' refers only to 'members of the [Nation’s] political community, which categorically excludes illegal aliens." Were that holding ultimately to carry the day in the Ninth Circuit or others, it would obviously have profound consequences for any constitutional protections currently afforded to the undocumented.
