In District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court ruled the Second Amendment confers an individual right to keep and bear arms to law-abiding, responsible citizens and “members of the political community” District of Columbia v. Heller, 128 S. Ct. 2783, 2790 (2008). In McDonald v. City of Chicago, the Court held the individual weapon-owning right to be a fundamental right incorporated against the states by the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause. McDonald v. City of Chi., 130 S. Ct. 48 (2009).

More recently, many of the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal have examined precisely who can be considered a law-abiding citizen and members of the political community in this context. These cases have examined the constitutionality of 18 U.S.C. § 992(g), a provision of the amended Gun Control Act of 1968 that prohibits the sale or possession of firearms to nine categories of individuals, including undocumented immigrants. Specifically, these cases have questioned whether the Second Amendment and the right to bear arms apply to undocumented immigrants, thereby making § 992(g) unconstitutional.