From U.S. v. Holden, decided Friday by the Seventh Circuit (Judge Frank Easterbrook, joined by Judges Diane Wood and Doris Pryor); seems quite correct to me:
"Our legal system provides methods for challenging the Government's right to ask questions—lying is not one of them. A citizen may decline to answer the question, or answer it honestly, but he cannot with impunity knowingly and willfully answer with a falsehood." …
When John Holden sought to buy a firearm in August 2021, he had to complete ATF Form 4473. Among the questions was whether he was then "under indictment or information" for any crime punishable by imprisonment for a year or more. He answered "no," but that answer was false. Holden had been accused of battering a public safety official, in violation of Ind. Code § 35-42-2-1(c)(1), (e)(2).
In August 2022 Holden pleaded guilty to violating 18 U.S.C. § 922(a)(6), which makes it a crime
knowingly to make any false or fictitious oral or written statement … intended or likely to deceive [an] importer, manufacturer, dealer, or collector with respect to any fact material to the lawfulness of the sale or other disposition of [a] firearm or ammunition under the provisions of this chapter[.]
He sought to withdraw the plea in order to contend that 18 U.S.C. § 922(n), which makes it a crime to purchase or receive a firearm while under indictment for a felony, violates the Second Amendment as understood in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen. The district judge granted this motion and dismissed the indictment, ruling that § 922(n) is invalid….
