In a courtroom smackdown that’s got Second Amendment advocates buzzing, Fifth Circuit Judge Don Willett just lobbed a constitutional grenade into the heart of federal firearm possession laws. During oral arguments in a case challenging restrictions on gun ownership for those with certain misdemeanor convictions, Willett didn’t mince words, grilling government lawyers on whether these blanket prohibitions pass constitutional muster under the Supreme Court’s Bruen framework. Where’s the history and tradition? he pressed, echoing the 2022 landmark that demands modern gun laws mirror America’s founding-era practices. This isn’t some rogue dissent—it’s a sitting judge on one of the nation’s most conservative circuits openly questioning the feds’ authority to strip rights based on non-violent offenses like reckless conduct or disorderly conduct, laws that ensnare everyday folks without felonious intent.
Willett’s skepticism is a masterclass in originalism, building on his own track record of torching ATF overreach in cases like Cargill v. Garland, where he helped dismantle the bump stock ban. Here, he’s zeroing in on 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), the sprawling federal statute that disarms prohibited persons—a category ballooned by Congress to include misdemeanants whose crimes of violence are often trivial by historical standards. Pre-Bruen, courts rubber-stamped these as presumptively lawful; post-Bruen, they’re crumbling like a wet paper target. Willett’s line of questioning exposes the absurdity: Founding-era analogs? Good luck finding colonial laws banning muskets for rowdy tavern brawlers. This could ripple beyond misdemeanors, threatening broader felon-in-possession clauses if history reveals no tradition of lifetime disarmament for all convicts.
For the 2A community, this is red meat—a signal that the judiciary’s post-Bruen awakening is accelerating in red circuits, potentially setting up Supreme Court showdowns that could gut § 922(g) entirely. Gun owners with dusty misdemeanor records (think bar fights or hunting mishaps) might soon reclaim their rights, while activists gear up for asymmetric warfare against Biden-era ATF expansions. Keep an eye on the Fifth Circuit’s ruling; if Willett sways the panel, it’s not just a win—it’s momentum toward restoring the presumption of arms-bearing for law-abiding Americans. Stay vigilant, patriots—this is how we claw back the Republic.
