8th Circuit Affirms ‘Cookie-Cutter’ Approach to Felon Firearm Disenfranchisement – Update for September 9, 2025

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ONE AND DONE

The 8^th Circuit last week underscored its hostility to any “as applied” 2^nd Amendment challenge to the 18 USC § 922(g)(1) felon-in-possession statute.  The Circuit affirmed its holding in United States v. Jackson that “the federal prohibition on possession of firearms by felons is constitutional as a categorical matter. There is no need for a felony-by-felony analysis, and no requirement of an individualized determination of dangerousness as to each person in the class of prohibited persons.”

In 1991, Anthony Browne was a member of the Black Gangster Disciples motorcycle gang/criminal organization. He and some other BGDs followed a rival gang member home. One of Browne’s fellow gang members shot up the place, hitting the intended victim’s mother. While Tony wasn’t the triggerman, he was convicted of committing willful injury and criminal gang participation and got 10 years in prison.

After being released from prison in 1998, Tony got a computer science degree from the University of Iowa and worked for the next 20 years as a software engineer. In 2021, the Dept of Defense granted him a security clearance as part of his job. He also earned an executive order in 2005 from the Iowa governor restoring many of his rights (but not the right to own guns). At age 52, Tony has not had a brush with the law in 34 years.

No matter, the 8^th said last week. A “legislature may dispossess forcible felons as a categorical matter,” the Circuit said, and Tony’s argument that under the 2^nd Amendment, he is entitled to issuance of a handgun permit unless the sheriff concludes after an individualized determination that Browne is “currently dangerous,” is nothing more than an end run around that.

Writing in The Reload, Jake Fogleman observed that “while he’s no Bryan Range or Melynda Vincent, the distance from [Tony’s] conduct that could credibly lead to him being labeled ‘dangerous’ is significant. There do not appear to be any recent indications that he poses an ongoing threat to the community. On the contrary, he has by all accounts turned his life around. Browne argued his recent history indicates he’s peaceable and, therefore, should have his rights restored. The panel disagreed… ‘Browne’s argument is inconsistent with the relevant history and this court’s conclusions in Jackson. Early American legislatures ordered disarmament and authorized punishment of death for forcible felonies and even for some non-violent offenses… [W]e conclude that the government has satisfied its burden to show that a lifetime restriction on the right of forcible felons to possess firearms, subject to a gubernatorial pardon, is consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearms regulation.”

Browne v. Reynolds, Case No. 24-1952, 2025 U.S.App. LEXIS 22449 (8th Cir. Sept 2, 2025)

United States v. Jackson, 110 F.4th 1120 (8th Cir. 2024)

The Reload, Analysis: Eighth Circuit Ruling Shows Thorny Legal Questions Still Surround Rights Restoration Push (September 7, 2025)

~ Thomas L. Root