A federal judge in West Virginia has ruled that a federal law banning possession of a gun with its serial number removed is unconstitutional, relying on the legal standard established by the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Second Amendment ruling in June.
The federal law in question, 18 U.S.C. § 922(k), prohibits “any person” from knowingly transporting, in interstate or foreign commerce, “any firearm which has had the importer’s or manufacturer’s serial number removed, obliterated, or altered,” or from possessing such weapons.
In U.S. v. Price, U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin found the federal law was not consistent with the United States’ “historical tradition of firearm regulation,” which was the standard established by the Supreme Court in its 6-3 New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen decision.
The criminal case concerns Randy Price, a man who was charged with illegal possession of a firearm that had the serial number removed. The weapon was found in his vehicle during a traffic stop in Charleston. The judge dismissed that charge, but kept another charge against Price of illegally possessing the gun after being convicted of previous felonies.
Hellbound and Down 