Supreme Court declines to hear challenges to ban on felons possessing guns

The Supreme Court shunted aside several gun rights cases Tuesday that tested the limits of the federal law that bans felons from possessing firearms.

Three convicts had argued that the law was unconstitutional, particularly as applied to their circumstances.

The justices turned the petitions aside without comment.

Two men had argued their previous felony convictions were for nonviolent offenses and they shouldn’t be used to permanently deny Second Amendment rights.

A third case involved a man with four previous domestic assault and battery convictions.

The justices pondered for weeks whether to take the cases.

Gun rights law is unsettled in the wake of a string of high court rulings. The Bruen case, in particular, held that only gun control laws that would have been acceptable to those at the time of the founding — or when the 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868 — can survive legal scrutiny.

That’s set off a round of litigation.

Some cases have challenged state bans on certain types of weapons, while others have challenged the federal law that lays out categories of people who are prohibited from possessing guns. That includes felons, illegal immigrants, fugitives and those subject to domestic violence protection orders.

Still another series of cases challenges restrictions on locations, such as private property or public parks.