Akron Law Student Publications

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2024

Abstract

The Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees an individual’s right to keep and bear arms. The Supreme Court of the United States has described the right as necessary to an individual’s ability to defend his or her person, home, and family. 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) makes it a felony for a convicted felon to “ship, transfer, possess, or receive” firearms or ammunition. The statute blocks an entire class of the American people from exercising the individual freedom guaranteed to them by the Constitution. It does not matter whether the underlying felony conviction is for a non-violent crime or a violent crime that required the use of a firearm in elements, there is an all-encompassing, blanket ban disqualifying a significant cross-section of the population from participating in the Second Amendment right of gun ownership and self-defense. The Eighth Amendment proscribes cruel and unusual punishment as a penalty for committing a crime. Four principles have emerged in determining whether a criminal punishment is cruel and unusual: the punishment must not degrade human dignity, the punishment must not be handed down in an arbitrary manner, the punishment must comply with modern standards, and the penological goal of the punishment must not be better accomplished by a lesser punishment. The blanket federal prohibition on firearm ownership by convicted felons fails all four

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The article is published by Firearms Research Center at the University of Wyoming College of Law

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