Just because one doesn\u2019t have American citizenship doesn\u2019t mean they aren\u2019t protected by the Second Amendment, according to a federal appeals court. <\/p>\n
The U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals made their ruling Thursday on a case involving Mariano Meza-Rodriguez, a technically illegal alien who has been living in the United States since he was about four years old. Constitutionally, Meza-Rodriguez still falls under the umbrella of the Second Amendment, but previous federal law said otherwise. Now, federal law lines up with the Constitution to include \u201cthe people\u201d who are living in America, legally or otherwise.<\/p>\n
Meza-Rodriguez was arrested in 2013 after a bar fight. Police discovered a .22-caliber round in Meza-Rodriguez\u2019 pocket and he was charged for illegally possessing a firearm or ammunition, but he argued that the charges should be dismissed on the grounds that his Second Amendment rights were being infringed upon. <\/p>\n
Chief Judge Diane Wood agreed and ruled that the Second Amendment\u2019s guarantee of \u201cthe people\u2019s\u201d right to keep and bear arms does not extend only to those legally living within our border, but to anyone residing in America.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe see no principled way to carve out the Second Amendment and say that the unauthorized (or maybe all noncitizens) are excluded,\u201d wrote Chief Judge Diane Wood.<\/p>\n
Even still, the courts upheld Meza-Rodriguez\u2019 conviction, a direct violation of their ruling, his lawyer argued.<\/p>\n
Judge Joel M. Flaum disagreed, saying the Second Amendment does not protect those who live in the country illegally. He did, however, acknowledge the glaring discrepancy in the ruling, adding that the panel shouldn\u2019t have addressed Meza-Rodriguez\u2019 Second Amendment concerns given the fact that possession of a firearm or ammunition by an illegal alien is clearly in violation of federal law.<\/p>\n
(This article was a submission from freelance writer Brent Rogers<\/em>) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Just because one doesn\u2019t have American citizenship doesn\u2019t mean they aren\u2019t protected by the Second Amendment, according to a federal appeals court. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":41882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_specdata_upc":"","_specdata_placement":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[244,7,326,25,240],"tags":[132,122],"featured":[],"hunt365":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-41881","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-2nd-amendment-r2kba","8":"category-gunsamerica-authors","9":"category-brent","10":"category-current-events","11":"category-this-week","12":"tag-buzz","13":"tag-r2kba"},"yoast_head":"\n