Now that the Supreme Court has granted cert in Trump v. Barbara, the meaning of the Citizenship Clause in the Fourteenth Amendment should be definitively clarified. There are numerous collateral issues that are stake besides whether a birth certificate reflects citizenship. One of those is whether the person may lawfully receive or possess firearms.
The Gun Control Act (GCA) makes it unlawful for "an alien" who "is illegally or unlawfully in the United States" or who (with certain exceptions) "has been admitted to the United States under a nonimmigrant visa" to receive or possess a firearm. 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5). As elsewhere provided, "The term 'alien' means any person not a citizen or national of the United States." 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(3). That raises serious questions about whether a person born in the United States is "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" so as to be a "citizen" under the Fourteenth Amendment. Is a person born here of illegal aliens or of temporary visitors on a nonimmigrant visa a non-citizen who does not have Second Amendment rights?
I have posted an article on SSRN entitled "Birthright Citizenship Requires Parental Allegiance to the United States: The Meaning of 'Subject to the Jurisdiction Thereof' in the Fourteenth Amendment." Although the article doesn't mention the Second Amendment in detail, that issue looms in the background of who are citizens and thus who may lawfully possess firearms.
