COA Shuts Down Second Amendment Challenges to Firearm by Felon

Back in February, the Court of Appeals decided State v. Nanes, COA24-487, ___ N.C. App. ___; 912 S.E.2d 202 (Feb. 19, 2025) (summarized here). The case considered and ultimately rejected facial and as-applied Second Amendment challenges to G.S. 14-415.1, our state prohibition on possession of firearms by a felon. Nanes squarely rejected the idea that G.S. 14-415.1 was facially unconstitutional but left open the possibility that the statute may be unconstitutional as applied to a different defendant. In State v. Ducker, COA24-373, ___ N.C. App. ___ ; ___ S.E.2d ___(May 7, 2025) (summarized here), the Court of Appeals closed the door on that possibility, ruling that Second Amendment rights do not apply to convicted felons and rejecting the need for a felony-by-felony analysis for as-applied Second Amendment challenges. Both Nanes and Ducker also considered and rejected related claims under Article I, Sec. 30 of the North Carolina Constitution. Today’s post examines these decisions. Facial Second Amendment Challenges. A facial challenge asserts that a law is wholly unconstitutional and cannot lawfully be applied to any defendant under any set of circumstances. U.S. v. Salerno, 481 U.S. 739, 745 (1987). Perhaps unsurprisingly, facial Second Amendment challenges to laws prohibiting the possession of firearms by convicted felons have not been successful. For instance, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a facial challenge to the federal counterpart of our state firearm by felon law, 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1), in December of 2024. U.S. v. Canada (“Canada II”), 123 F.4th 159, 161 (4th Cir. 2024) (“No [...]