Gun charges against an illegal migrant were dropped in March in the US state of Illinois. The ruling has sparked debate concerning the Second Amendment and the rights it provides.
U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Coleman of the Northern District of Illinois referenced lower court rulings in dismissing firearm possession charges against Heriberto Carbajal-Flores, who was illegally or unlawfully in the United States when he possessed a handgun in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago on June 1, 2020.
“The Court finds that Carbajal-Flores’ criminal record, containing no improper use of a weapon, as well as the non-violent circumstances of his arrest do not support a finding that he poses a risk to public safety such that he cannot be trusted to use a weapon responsibly and should be deprived of his Second Amendment right to bear arms in self-defense,” Coleman, who was appointed under President Barack Obama, wrote in her eight-page ruling filed March 8.
Carbajal-Flores was charged under Title 18 of U.S. Criminal Code, which legally disallows undocumented individuals to possess firearms and ammunition “or to receive any firearm or ammunition which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce.”
Carbajal-Flores insisted he had the firearm for self-defense and protection of property “during a time of documented civil unrest” in Spring 2020. Additionally, he emphasized that he has never been convicted of a felony, a violent crime or a crime involving the use of a weapon.
The court previously denied two motions by Carbajal-Flores to dismiss charges.
Gun rights activists were divided after news broke of the ruling. Some argued the decision purposefully blurs the line between a citizen and a noncitizen.
Senator Marco Rubio is also of this opinion, having said the left has long been trying to “blur the line between citizenship and everything else — people that are here illegally.”
“You almost wonder if it’s not being done to sort of mock both gun laws and also the whole understanding of the value of being a citizen of the United States of America,” he added.
