No One Should be Permanently Disarmed for a 20-Year-Old Misdemeanor DUI Conviction

Edward Williams was convicted on misdemeanor drunk driving charge more than two decades ago. No one was hurt, no property was damaged and no firearms were involved. Still, Williams lost his gun rights as a result. In 2024, he petitioned the court to have his rights reinstated.

This non-violent offener’s attempt to get his rights restored has worked its way up to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and is being supported by the CCRKBA, SAF, the California Rifle & Pistol Association, and the Second Amendment Law Center among other gun rights orgs.

The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms has submitted an amicus brief to the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in support of a Pennsylvania man’s challenge of a federal law which imposed a lifetime loss of Second Amendment rights over a misdemeanor conviction for driving under the influence. The case is known as Williams v. Attorney General of the United States.

Joining CCRKBA in this amicus are the Second Amendment Foundation, California Rifle & Pistol Association, and Second Amendment Law Center. They are represented by attorneys C.D. “Chuck” Michel and Anna M. Barvir at Michel & Associates in Long Beach, Calif., and Konstadinos T. Moros at the Second Amendment Foundation in Bellevue, Wash. They are supporting plaintiff Edward A. Williams, who argues a lifetime ban is excessive to the extreme.

In their brief, the gun rights organizations acknowledge historical actions involving guns and alcohol, but explain how earlier generations addressed the same problem differently than modern law does; that is, by restricting carry by those who are intoxicated, not by banning possession or ownership of guns by anyone who was publicly drunk in the past. The modern law goes too far, particularly as applied to an individual like Williams whose last conviction is long in the past. 

“The Citizens Committee is keenly interested in this case and Mr. Williams’ plight,” said CCRKBA Managing Director Andrew Gottlieb. “There was no evidence he ever acted dangerously with a firearm, nobody was injured and there was no property damage. He made a foolish error in judgment more than 20 years ago, yet he is being penalized for that mistake decades later. Nothing in Mr. Williams’ case justifies his permanent disarmament. What has happened to him amounts to legislative overkill.”

Gottlieb said permanent loss of Second Amendment rights is an egregious miscarriage of justice and an affront to basic common sense. 

“As we conclude in our Amicus,” Gottlieb stated, “our historical tradition does not tolerate disarming Mr. Williams for life.”