The "Scourge" of Armed Check Fraud: A Constitutional Framework for Prohibited Possessor Laws

Abstract

Prohibited possessor statutes have been a part of American law for decades. Put simply, these laws prohibit any person who has been convicted of a felony from possessing a firearm, a prohibition that lasts for the felon’s entire life. The Supreme Court’s modern Second Amendment jurisprudence has held that the right to possess a firearm is a fundamental individual right. In light of this new paradigm, the constitutionality of such broad prohibitions must be called into question—despite the eagerness of courts across the country to dismiss such challenges by pointing to a single line in Heller. This Note challenges the constitutionality of modern prohibited possessor laws and asserts that these laws are unconstitutionally overbroad. It then proposes a constitutional framework for analyzing laws that ban firearm possession by felons.