USA v. Cockerham
Split Score
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Case Summary
Disposition
Reversed
In this Fifth Circuit case, Edward Cockerham challenged his conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) for possessing a firearm after a prior felony conviction for failure to pay child support. Applying Bruen’s historical-tradition test, the court held that lifetime disarmament of a non-violent debtor lacks a founding-era analogue and therefore violates the Second Amendment as applied to Cockerham, reversing the conviction and remanding.
Circuit Split Identified
Legal Issue
Whether 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1)’s lifetime firearm ban for all persons convicted of crimes punishable by more than one-year imprisonment violates the Second Amendment when applied to individuals whose predicate offense was non-violent (e.g., failure to pay child support) and how courts should conduct the historical-tradition inquiry after NYSRPA v. Bruen.
Circuit Positions
§ 922(g)(1) is categorically constitutional; no as-applied Second-Amendment challenges permitted.
As-applied challenges are permissible, but courts may consider the defendant’s entire criminal record/dangerousness; § 922(g)(1) generally upheld.
As-applied challenges focusing on the predicate offense’s historical analogue are required; lifetime disarmament of non-violent offenders can be unconstitutional.
Conflict Summary
The circuits disagree on (1) whether § 922(g)(1) is categorically constitutional or instead subject to individualized, as-applied Second-Amendment challenges, and (2) if individualized review is required, what factors matter—only the nature of the predicate felony or the defendant’s broader dangerousness.