NBA YoungBoy’s attorneys filed a motion to dismiss his federal gun charges on February 2. According to court documents obtained by AllHipHop, his lawyers argued the charges were unconstitutional.
The Motown Records artist, whose real name is Kentrell Gaulden, was indicted for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and unlawful possession of an unregistered firearm in 2021. NBA YoungBoy’s lawyers claimed the charges, which stemmed from his 2020 arrest in Baton Rouge, violated his Second Amendment rights.
“The government has not alleged that Mr. Gaulden was observed to be holding a firearm by any law enforcement officer (or any other witness), nor have any allegations been made that Mr. Gaulden was using a firearm in any unlawful way at the time of his alleged offense,” NBA YoungBoy’s legal team wrote. “Rather, the government merely alleges that music video footage shows Mr. Gaulden possessing a firearm after being convicted of a felony and for possessing a firearm which is not registered in the national firearms registration and transfer record.”
They continued, “The government does not allege that Mr. Gaulden was posing a threat to anyone and cannot even allege that the suspected firearms observed in the video were functional or loaded when the video was recorded. This prosecution seeks to restrict and deny Mr. Gaulden’s Second Amendment right to possess a firearm based solely on his status [as] a felon and his alleged failure to comply with bureaucratic regulations requiring the registration of firearms into a national database.”
NBA YoungBoy’s lawyers said his alleged possession of a firearm in a public area was protected by the Second Amendment. They disputed the legality of banning convicted felons from possessing guns.
“Scholars and courts alike have previously recognized the lack of a clear historical continuity between the firearm laws in effect when the Second Amendment was ratified and the modern lifetime ban on possessing firearms for anyone convicted of a crime punishable by imprisonment for term exceeding one year which is currently in effect,” the attorneys wrote. “The Fifth Circuit has acknowledged that ‘the federal felony firearm possession ban bears little resemblance to laws in effect at the time the Second Amendment was ratified, as it was not enacted until 1938, was not expanded to cover non-violent felonies until 1961 and was not re-focused from receipt to possession until 1968’ … In other words, the blanket lifetime ban on the possession of firearms by every individual convicted of a crime for which they could have been sentenced to a term exceeding one year did not exist until 1968.”
The lawyers pushed back against felony-based disarmament. They contended the government “cannot provide the historical analogues to show that felony disarmament comports” with the tradition of firearm regulation in the U.S.
NBA YoungBoy remains on house arrest awaiting trial in his federal gun case. The 24-year-old rapper’s trial is scheduled to begin in July if Judge Shelly Dick rejects his request to dismiss the charges.