Federal court rules firearm restrictions on defendants awaiting trial are constitutional

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Court orders that prohibited two criminal defendants from possessing firearms while they awaited trial were constitutional because they were in line with past restrictions on firearms. That’s according to a unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The judges found that U.S. laws have historically sought to disarm dangerous criminal defendants. They ruled that those previous prohibitions justified the restrictions placed on two defendants in California whose challenges to the law were consolidated in Monday’s order. An attorney for both men says they’ll appeal.