## Facts

- Emmanuel Huitron-Guizar was born in Mexico and brought to Wyoming at age three; he remained in the United States without lawful status.
- Officers executed a search warrant at his home and found three firearms: a 7.62x39mm rifle, a 12-gauge semi-automatic shotgun, and a Smith & Wesson semi-automatic pistol.
- He was charged under 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(5)(A) and 924(a)(2) with possessing firearms while an alien “illegally or unlawfully in the United States.”
- He entered a conditional guilty plea preserving constitutional and sentencing challenges and was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment, with transfer to immigration authorities upon release.
- In the district court, he sought dismissal on Second Amendment and equal protection grounds and sought a “sporting purposes” reduction and a downward departure or variance; the court denied those requests.

## Issues

1. Whether 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5)(A) violates the Second Amendment as applied to an unlawfully present alien who has long resided in the United States.
2. Whether § 922(g)(5)(A) violates equal protection principles applicable to federal action through the Fifth Amendment.
3. Whether the district court erred in denying a U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(b)(2) “sporting purposes or collection” reduction and in declining a downward departure or variance.

## Decision

- The Tenth Circuit affirmed the conviction and sentence.
- Assuming without deciding that an unlawfully present alien with substantial ties to the United States may assert some Second Amendment interest, the court held § 922(g)(5)(A) constitutional under the applicable scrutiny.
- The court rejected the equal protection challenge, holding the immigration-status classification permissible under at most rational-basis-type review.
- The court upheld denial of the § 2K2.1(b)(2) reduction because the evidence did not show the firearms were possessed solely for lawful sporting purposes or collection.
- The court held the within-Guidelines 18-month sentence substantively reasonable and found no reversible error in the refusal to depart or vary downward.

## Legal Principles

- Courts may apply a two-step post-Heller framework: determine whether the regulated conduct falls within the Second Amendment’s scope and, if so, apply an appropriate level of means-end scrutiny.
- Firearm prohibitions targeting classes of persons may be treated as outside the core of the Second Amendment right or sustained under intermediate scrutiny when substantially related to important governmental interests such as public safety and crime prevention.
- Congress may draw regulatory lines based on unlawful immigration status in the firearms context; such classifications generally receive, at most, rational-basis-type review and are valid if rationally related to legitimate governmental objectives.
- A defendant bears the burden to prove the U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(b)(2) reduction applies; possession must be solely for lawful sporting purposes or collection.
- A within-Guidelines sentence is reviewed for substantive reasonableness under abuse of discretion and is ordinarily upheld absent a clear error in judgment.

## Conclusion

The Tenth Circuit held that § 922(g)(5)(A)’s ban on firearm possession by unlawfully present aliens is constitutional under the Second Amendment and equal protection principles and affirmed the district court’s Guidelines rulings and within-Guidelines sentence.


United States v. Huitron-Guizar, 678 F.3d 1164 (10th Cir. 2012)