Published September 19, 2026 at 9:55 AM ET · Updated September 19, 2026 at 10:44 AM ET
Fifth Circuit strikes down federal interstate handgun purchase ban
1 independent outlet is covering this story, first reported here by Instapundit. Verification: Watching (how we verify). Every headline links to the original reporting.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has struck down the federal ban on interstate handgun purchases. The ruling removes the federal prohibition on buying handguns across state lines.
Patriot Watch first flagged this story 11 d ago, when Instapundit reported it. So far this remains a single-source report. The most recent report came 11 d ago from Instapundit.
⚖ The Constitutional Angle
Bruen held that when the plain text of the amendment covers conduct, government must justify the rule with the historical tradition of regulation. Heller recognized an individual handgun right and noted longstanding conditions on commercial sale remain presumptively lawful. Striking the interstate purchase ban means the court found no matching tradition, and that sale-condition caveat would frame an appeal.
New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Kevin P. Bruen, Superintendent of New York State Police 597 U.S. 1 (2022)
Vote: 6-3 · Opinion: Thomas
New York's requirement that applicants demonstrate 'proper cause' — a special need for self-protection distinguishable from the general community — to obtain an unrestricted public-carry license violates the Fourteenth Amendment by preventing law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms in public. The Court held the Second Amendment protects a right to carry handguns publicly for self-defense, and rejected the two-step means-end framework lower courts had applied after Heller.
District of Columbia v. Heller 554 U.S. 570 (2008)
Vote: 5-4 · Opinion: Scalia
The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia and to use it for traditionally lawful purposes such as self-defense within the home. The right is not unlimited: the Court noted that longstanding prohibitions (e.g., possession by felons and the mentally ill, carrying in sensitive places, conditions on commercial sale) remain presumptively lawful. D.C.'s ban on handgun possession in the home and its requirement that lawful firearms in the home be kept nonfunctional violate the Second Amendment.
Precedent facts from the PW Law Library — primary-source verified & independently audited
