For Immediate Release:
Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Contact:
Nazneen Ahmed (919) 716-0060

(RALEIGH) Attorney General Josh Stein today filed a friend-of-the-court brief defending the federal law that prohibits people who have been convicted of felonies from possessing firearms. In the brief, filed in U.S. v Prince, Attorney General Stein and 21 other attorneys general ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit to overturn a lower court ruling that found the law unconstitutional.

“We need to keep guns out of the hands of people who have been convicted of violent crimes,” said Attorney General Josh Stein. “This law keeps people safe, and I urge the court to uphold it.”

The coalition argues that the Second Amendment allows governments to enact sensible protections for the public. In addition to the federal law, nearly every state in the country, including North Carolina, has imposed limitations on the possession of firearms by those convicted of felonies, and many have maintained those laws for nearly a century.

Attorney General Stein is joined in filing the brief by the Attorneys General of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin.

A copy of the brief is available here.

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