A federal judge recently denied a request by an illegal alien, who had purchased 170 guns and undergone multiple background checks, to drop illegal gun possession charges because he claimed they violated his Second Amendment right to bear arms.
According to a Fox News report, Carlos Serrano-Restrepo’s lawyer submitted a motion to dismiss the charge arguing that he has the right to bear arms under the Second Amendment. The judge denied the motion to dismiss the charge against the Ohio man, who had been in the U.S. for 15 years, writing in his opinion that “disarming unlawful immigrants like Mr. Serrano-Restrepo who have not sworn allegiance to the United States comports with the Nation’s history and tradition of firearm regulations.”
“The swearing of an oath of allegiance occurs through the naturalization process, not through his asylum application or his years of living in the United States,” Judge Edmund A. Sargus Jr. wrote in the ruling.
Serrano-Restrepo had told the judge that his firearms, which included a .50-caliber Barrett multiple AR-15s— was “for self-defense” and part of “his collection,” according to court documents. And had he been a lawful citizen, those would have been very good points. The ruling that illegal immigrants don’t have a Second Amendment right to bear arms isn’t the first such, as the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in August that illegals don’t have 2A rights.
While that question appears to be answered—at least for now—the bigger question is how Serrano-Restrepo passed so many federal background checks. Each time he filled out the 4473, he answered that he was a U.S. citizen when he wasn’t.
ATF agents recently began investigating Serrano-Restrepo after he completed a purchase of at least 22 firearms. When they searched his home, they found 170 firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition.
While the media might make that sound like an “arsenal,” TTAG readers know it more as a “nice gun collection”—something to strive for, not to fear. Still, the fact that someone in the country illegally could pass the background check just by lying about his citizenship is concerning, especially since citizens are delayed daily over small errors without the FBI system.
Since simply lying on the background check is a serious crime, Serrano-Restrepo could have been charged with a 10-year felony for every time he underwent a background check while purchasing the 170 guns. Consequently, it takes a pretty brazen lawyer to argue before a court of law that he shouldn’t face a charge of illegal firearms possession when he could face hundreds if not thousands of years in prison for background check falsehoods.
For all we know, the accused did not lie on any of his form 4473s and truthfully indicated that he is not a U.S. citizen on any of them. It is up to the federal firearms licensee to reject his purchase if he indicated that accurately.
As for passing the background check system, I don’t see much of a mystery there: he successfully cleared background checks if the system only flags people known to have disqualifications. In other words, the system is not required to have a positive record of you being clear–it only has to have a negative record if you are disqualified.
On that last point, once again it is up to the federal firearm licensee submitting the buyer to the background check system to ensure that that buyer is presenting valid identification. Nothing stops the buyer from literally claiming to be “John Q. Public” and if the federal firearm licensee will submit the background check without identification, that name would pass. Finally, note that an illegal alien would have a valid driver’s license if a state like California will issue a driver’s license to an illegal alien. Thus, an illegal alien in that situation would actually have valid identification for the federal firearm licensee to submit the background check and the illegal alien would pass if he/she has no criminal record.
In my comment above, I stated:
“… the system is not required to have a positive record of you being clear–it only has to have a negative record if you are disqualified.”
I wonder if fedzilla wanted this illegal alien to successfully purchase all of those firearms so that they could justify passing a new law–requiring a “positive” database and a new requirement that you have to pass the “positive” database in order to purchase firearms.
If there is one thing that oppressive governments love, it is a database of their people that they can use to abuse their people.
And a LIE is an automatic DISQUALIFICATION for the purchase to be made!
edit.. I meant that if he was truthful and answered ‘NO’ to are you a US Citizen (truth) as you claim, he would automatically be disqualified.
“For all we know, the accused did not lie on any of his form 4473s”
1) Per the article, he lied each time…
2) states that issue DLs to noncitizens should indicate their status on the license. Congress could make that law, I think.
3) I’d still like to know where the 11k of northbound ammo they popped in TX was headed…
“states that issue DLs to noncitizens should indicate their status on the license. Congress could make that law, I think.”
Yes! Why didn’t we have that decades ago? Because our elected officials want a country full of non-citizens doing certain citizen things. There’s no other reason. But we’re on to them. It took awhile, but we’re finally waking up. The smears against us for noticing things will no longer make us look the other way. They overused the putdowns until they have no meaning.
WTH are you talking about?– “For all we know, the accused did not lie on any of his form 4473s and truthfully indicated that he is not a U.S. citizen on any of them.”
You are presented with the question.. You either answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. The FFL has nothing to do with how you answer.. You either answer truthfully to the questions or you LIE.. And if you LIE you committed a federal offense punishable by up to 10 years in prison!
The article is lacking a lot of detail.
“After they began investigating him… ” what did they find to move forward with a search warrant?
Buying 22 firearms in one transaction is not a valid reason.
Investigators can investigate whenever they want to within their organization guidelines. What have we learned about the ATF? Sometimes, they show up at your house when you buy three guns in a month. Buy 22 in a short time (like this guy, per Fox article), and watch what happens next. The standard background checks are obviously a joke, but it probably took the ATF all of one minute to determine he wasn’t a citizen. Hello warrant.
Suspicious events trigger an investigation. Your tax returns might be perfectly fine, but the IRS will investigate you if your activities fit a certain profile. But we can never investigate elections, even when the results defy every single thing we have learned about elections over the past five decades. Why, you ask? Because investigating election fraud is a threat to democracy. Installing a senile puppet, who isn’t in charge of anything, is not a threat to democracy.
Same thing with banks. If you make deposits of over a certain amount (I think officially it is 10k, but report 9k anyway) or lots of cash transactions, the cops will investigate. It doesn’t matter that it may innocent and legal.
“… had been in the U.S. for 15 years,”… I’ve lived here all my life and have been gainfully employed 50+ years and do not have 170 firearms. I think his tax obligations and funding sources also need a review. cc: Oscar Wallace.
Ditto!!!
He had a Barrett, he could afford to fix his status.
Nice to know the courts recognize that illegals may be a member of a people, but are not a member of The People.
Is this argument now settled? I’ve heard conflicting views.
Much improved, in my view. The Achilles Lauro hijacker/murderer was lured on to a boat (sex and drugs, iirc) by the FBI, then brought stateside for trial. A jackass judge cut him loose, saying he had been “entrapped”.
That’s how bad it was way back when. I think he was a Lebanese citizen.
But maybe not settled, don’t know…
All this worthless chatter. Illegal alien liar is a criminal.