EUGENE VOLOKH: The Second Amendment and People Who Have Past Misdemeanor Convictions for Nonviolent Gun Possession.

Chicago law bans gun possession without a license, and provides that licenses may not be issued to anyone who has “been convicted by a court in any jurisdiction of … an unlawful use of a weapon that is a firearm.” Shawn Gowder has a misdemeanor conviction for “unlawful use of a weapon” based on simple possession of a gun; the conviction dates back from 1995 (it was originally a felony but was later redefined a misdemeanor because of a state court decision holding that struck down the law making the conviction a felony on state single-subject-clause grounds).

Gowder sued, and today a federal district court (Gowder v. City of Chicago (N.D. Ill. June 19, 2012)) held that the law violated Gowder’s Second Amendment rights. While the Supreme Court has held that felons may be barred from possessing guns, and the Seventh Circuit held the same about people who have violent misdemeanor convictions, the district court held that nonviolent misdemeanants with convictions for nonviolent gun possession offenses do not permanently lose their Second Amendment rights. I think this is likely correct, and will likely be upheld on appeal (though that’s always hard to tell).

Indeed.