In United States v. DeBorba, --- F.4th ---, No. 23-3304 (9th Cir. 2026), the Court affirmed João Ricardo DeBorba’s convictions, following a bench trial on stipulated facts, for unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition by a noncitizen illegally or unlawfully in the United States, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5)(A); unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition by a person under a domestic violence restraining order, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8); making false statements during purchase of firearms, 18 U.S.C. § 922(a)(6); making a false claim to U.S. citizenship, 18 U.S.C. § 911; and unlawful possession of a firearm silencer under the National Firearms Act (NFA), 26 U.S.C. §§ 5861(d), 5845(a)(7).
In affirming, the Court rejected a host of Second Amendment challenges:
DeBorba levies challenges to Section 922(g)(5)’s prohibition on firearm possession by noncitizens, the materiality of his false statements and U.S. citizenship claim, Section 922(g)(5)’s prohibition on firearm possession by those subject to a domestic violence restraining order, and the NFA’s regulation of silencers. None are availing. We address each in turn.Our recent decision in United States v. Vazquez-Ramirez controls DeBorba’s challenges to 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5). 163 F.4th 706 (9th Cir. 2026). We held in Vazquez-Ramirez that Section 922’s prohibition on the possession of firearms and ammunition by noncitizens “illegally or unlawfully in the United States,” 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5)(A), is “consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation” as required by the Second Amendment.DeBorba’s materiality challenges to his convictions for making false statements on ATF gun purchase forms and making a false claim to citizenship on his Washington concealed carry application fail because his challenges to Section 922(g)(5) fail. DeBorba concedes that those challenges depend on a holding that the Second Amendment does not allow his disarmament based on citizenship or immigration status. That proposition is foreclosed by Vazquez-Ramirez.DeBorba presents as-applied challenges to both prongs of Section 922(g)(8)(C). He argues that the restraining orders in his case lack analogous historical traditions of firearm regulation. In United States v. VanDyke, 157 F.4th 1082 (9th Cir. 2025), we drew upon the Supreme Court’s rejection of a 922(g)(8)(C)(i) challenge in Rahimi and rejected a challenge to 922(g)(8)(C)(ii). Together, Rahimi and VanDyke foreclose DeBorba’s arguments regarding Section 922(g)(8)(C)’s unconstitutionality, and he does not demonstrate that his circumstances are meaningfully different from those cases.DeBorba argues the NFA’s regulation of silencers violates both the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms and the Fifth Amendment’s prohibition on vague criminal laws. Both challenges lack merit.As we have previously explained, “optional accessories” to firearms—such as gun slings, scopes, and, importantly, silencers—fall outside of the Second Amendment’s plain text because they are “accoutrements” and not arms. Id. DeBorba’s challenge thus fails at step one of the Bruen analysis.DeBorba’s challenge also cannot overcome the presumptive constitutionality of the NFA’s shall-issue licensing regime.As the Fifth Circuit explained, there is “no reason to doubt” that the NFA’s licensing requirements serve to “ensure only that those bearing arms in the jurisdiction are, in fact, ‘law-abiding, responsible citizens.’” We agree and so hold.DeBorba also argues that the NFA’s regulation of “any silencer,” 26 U.S.C. § 5845(a)(7)—defined as “any device for silencing, muffling, or diminishing the report of a portable firearm,” 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(25)—is unconstitutionally vague. He invokes the Fifth Amendment’s protection against any “criminal law so vague that it fails to give ordinary people fair notice of the conduct it punishes, or so standardless that it invites arbitrary enforcement.As applied, DeBorba’s vagueness challenge to the NFA plainly fails for two reasons. First, the stipulated facts, taken together, render DeBorba guilty of the charge under Section 5861(d) and foreclose his challenge.Second, DeBorba’s as-applied challenge falls short when one considers the device’s design. As the district court explained, the item was “a cylindrical device with no manufacturer marking and no serial number” in which “the front endcap of the device contained a hole to allow passage of a bullet, and the rear endcap also had a hole in its center that was internally threaded to facilitate attachment to a firearm barrel.” When the ATF attached DeBorba’s device to a portable firearm and fired the gun, the device “reduced sound reporting by at least twelve decibels.” Id. The NFA’s inclusion of any device “for silencing, muffling, or diminishing the report of a portable firearm,” 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(25), provided “fair notice” to DeBorba that his device falls within the Act’s ambit.
