(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Along with being accused of trying to assassinate President Donald Trump last September, Ryan Routh also faces charges of illegally possessing a firearm as a felon, and for possessing a rifle with an obliterated serial number.
However, Routh’s attorneys want those charges dismissed on Second Amendment grounds.
In a motion filed Monday, Routh’s attorneys argue that firearms regulations must be “consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.” And according to Routh’s attorneys, before 1961 there is no historical precedent in America for prohibiting firearms possession.
“As scholars and historians have long pointed out, ‘no colonial or state law in eighteenth century America formally restricted’—much less prohibited, permanently and under pain of criminal punishment—’the ability of felons to own firearms,’” the attorneys argued. “Indeed, as militia members, they were not simply permitted to possess arms; they were actually required to purchase and possess arms for militia service.”
Routh’s motion may sound like a stretch to some, but last year an illegal immigrant successfully made similar arguments to successfully dismiss a charge for possessing a firearm while in the country illegally in June 2020.
In that case, the immigrant’s judge applied a centuries-old case precedent about rules barring former British loyalists from possessing weapons. There, a court eventually ruled that only “untrustworthy” or “dangerous” former British loyalists should be barred from owning firearms in America.
“Thus, to the extent the exception shows that some British loyalists were permitted to carry firearms despite the general prohibition, the Court interprets this history as supporting an individualized assessment for [illegal immigrants],” the judge said in her decision when she dismissed the charge.
Unlike the illegal immigrant, Routh is facing more severe charges than just felony firearms possession. He faces life in prison for trying to kill Trump.
Routh’s next court hearing is April 15, and his trial is scheduled for September.
His Monday motion to dismiss was one of a flurry of court filings made that day. Read about the others here and here.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
