Illegal immigrants have no right to arms - court

Dec 16 (Reuters) - Illegal immigrants do not have a right to bear arms under the U.S. Constitution, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, based in Missouri, rejected an appeal brought by Joaquin Bravo Flores, who was charged with possessing a firearm. Agreeing with the 5th Circuit, the court concluded that the protections of the Second Amendment do not extend to undocumented immigrants.

Executing a search warrant in 2010, police uncovered a semi-automatic handgun in Bravo Flores' Minneapolis apartment. A grand jury indicted him for being an alien in possession of a firearm in violation of federal law. He was sentenced to three years in prison.

Bravo Flores tried to dismiss the indictment, arguing that the criminal law barring illegal immigrants from possessing guns is unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2008 recognized an individual right to possess firearms under the Second Amendment. Bravo Flores argued that the Second Amendment's guarantee of "the right of the people to keep and bear arms" also applied to him and other illegal immigrants.

His lawyer argued in a court filing that Bravo Flores is a member of "the people," having come to the country as a teenager and now living with his American citizen partner and their two citizen children.

The Supreme Court has previously ruled that undocumented immigrants have constitutional rights in criminal cases, including a Sixth Amendment right to trial and Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures.

The 8th Circuit declined to extend the right to bear arms to illegal immigrants. The appeals court has previously upheld other criminal laws that prohibit convicted felons and narcotics addicts from possessing firearms.

Federal defender Andrea George, who represents Bravo Flores, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The U.S. Attorney was not immediately available for comment.

In June, the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit rejected a constitutional challenge brought by a Mexican citizen arrested in Texas for carrying a firearm, which he said he used to kill coyotes. The appeals court quoted language from the Supreme Court's 2008 case District of Columbia v. Heller, finding that the phrase "the people" referred to "law-abiding citizens" and "members of the political community."

One judge dissented, finding that the 5th Circuit decision in that case meant that "millions of similarly situated residents of the United States are non-persons who have no rights to be free from unjustified searches of their homes and bodies and other abuses, nor to peaceably assemble or petition the government."

The 8th Circuit case is U.S. v. Joaquin Bravo Flores, No. 11-1550.
 
For the government: Michael Dees, formerly with the U.S. Attorney's Office.

For Bravo Flores: Andrea George of the Federal Public Defender's Office.

(Reporting by Terry Baynes)

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