KY man sues for right to carry a gun, says non-violent felony shouldn’t bar ownership
A Shelby County man is suing the top law enforcement officials in Kentucky and the U.S., claiming his non-violent felony conviction from 1997 should not prohibit him from owning a gun.
Hubert Ford filed suit in federal court Wednesday, against U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman.
Ford claims a Kentucky law that makes it illegal for him to possess a firearm violates his Second Amendment rights.
Ford was convicted of felony fraud in 1997, but he says that because his crime was non-violent, it should not bar him from possessing a gun.
Ford says state law should distinguish between a non-violent and violent criminal and consider whether the person is considered dangerous.
Ford’s lawsuit comes a month after the Kentucky Court of Appeals reversed a lower court’s ruling that people charged with a felony could not be prosecuted for carrying a firearm.
The question arose when Jecory Lamont Fraizer, 41, requested his felon-in-possession in charge be dismissed by a Jefferson County judge in October 2023, saying Kentucky’s law violated his Second Amendment rights.
Frazier cited a three-year-old United States Supreme Court case precedent made in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen.
That ruling struck down New York’s strict handgun licensing law which required a “proper cause” to carry a handgun in public, giving individuals the right to carry a loaded handgun in public for self-defense.
The case allowed states to provide further protection for gun ownership, as long as they are consistent with federal regulations. The Jefferson County trial court judge agreed with Fraizer and dismissed his indictment in March 2024.
But the state court of appeals said the judge erred in her historical analysis, and that Congress has a right to “disarm those that it deems dangerous.”
A hearing has not been set for Ford’s case.
