After pleading guilty to bank fraud and filing a false income tax return in 2015, Selim Zherka was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release, plus fines, restitution, and forfeiture. Although he completed his sentence in May 2020, he is still subject to an additional penalty: He is not allowed to exercise the constitutional right to armed self-defense.
The federal law imposing that disability, Zherka argues in a Supreme Court petition, is unconstitutional as applied to him because his criminal record does not suggest his possession of firearms would pose a danger to public safety. The case gives the Court a chance to ameliorate the injustice caused by an absurdly broad policy that deprives Americans of the right to arms even when they have no history of violence.
