Brief argues the Second Amendment does not allow the government to permanently disarm people based solely on nonviolent felony convictions
WASHINGTON, D.C. (October 1, 2026) — Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) announced today that it joined the National Rifle Association and Second Amendment Foundation in filing an important brief with the United States Supreme Court in Johnson v. United States, urging the Court to hear a challenge to the federal government’s permanent disarmament of people convicted of nonviolent crimes.
Joseph Johnson’s sole predicate conviction is a 2015 state marijuana-cultivation offense. He has never been convicted of a violent offense, but federal law permanently prohibits him from possessing firearms or ammunition. The Tenth Circuit rejected his Second Amendment challenge because its precedent categorically bars as-applied challenges to the federal felon-in-possession law, even when the underlying offense was nonviolent.
“The government does not get to turn a decade-old marijuana conviction into a lifetime ban on exercising a constitutionally protected right. We have been fighting this immoral disarmament scheme for years—in our research, scholarship, and cases across the country. FPC and our Grassroots Army will continue to Fight Forward until we end this unconstitutional and immoral lifetime gun ban,” said FPC President Brandon Combs.
The amicus brief argues that American history supports disarming people who were considered dangerous—not permanently stripping peaceable people of their rights merely because they committed a nonviolent felony. It explains that historically, nonviolent offenders retained the right to keep and bear arms and, in some circumstances, were even legally required to possess arms through militia laws.
The brief also rejects the view that Heller’s description of felon-disarmament laws as “presumptively lawful” makes them immune from constitutional challenge. FPC and its fellow amici argue that Bruen requires the government to justify firearm restrictions through the Nation’s historical tradition, and that there is no such tradition supporting the permanent disarmament of peaceable people.
FPC has long urged the Supreme Court to recognize that the historical justification for firearm prohibitions was the disarmament of dangerous people—not peaceable people convicted of nonviolent offenses—through original research, scholarship, and litigation, including cases like Folajtar v. Attorney General, Holloway v. Garland, and Range v. Garland. FPC scholarship has also helped develop the historical record showing that America’s tradition is one of disarming dangerous persons, not permanently disarming peaceable Americans.
About Firearms Policy Coalition
Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) is a nonprofit membership organization that exists to create a world of maximal individual liberty and eliminate unconstitutional gun control laws. FPC works—and wins—for the People through high-impact strategic litigation, groundbreaking research, legislative and regulatory advocacy, grassroots activism, education, and public engagement. FPC’s legal division, FPC Law, is the nation’s leading initiative dedicated to restoring the right to keep and bear arms across the United States. To learn more about how FPC is working—and winning—for the People, sign up for FPC news alerts at firearmspolicy.org and follow FPC on X, Instagram, and Facebook.
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