Obama-Appointed Judge Rules Illegal Immigrants Can Carry Guns in the U.S.

U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman, appointed by Barack Obama, ruled that an illegal immigrant has the right to bear arms under the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

This ruling came about in the case of Heriberto Carbajal-Flores, who faced charges under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5), a federal statute that prohibits noncitizens without legal status in the U.S. from “possess[ing] in or affecting commerce, any firearm or ammunition; or to receive any firearm or ammunition which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce.”

Carbajal-Flores, who has been living in the United States illegally, was charged after he was found to be carrying a gun in Chicago during the civil unrest in the spring of 2020.

He and his lawyers have fought the charge, arguing that the gun was for self-defense and citing a Supreme Court ruling on New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen, that New York’s law was unconstitutional and that the ability to carry a pistol in public was a constitutional right.

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