Opinion
No. 10-40819 Summary Calendar.
April 1, 2011.
Ricky Leon Dority, FCI Texarkana, pro se.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, USDC No. 5:08-CV-127.
Before WIENER, BARKSDALE, and BENAVIDES, Circuit Judges.
Proceeding pro se, Ricky Leon Dority, federal prisoner # 03636-063, appeals the dismissal of his 28 U.S.C. § 2241 petition challenging the constitutionality of his conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) (felon in possession of a firearm). Dority contends: the conviction is invalid because, in the light of District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570, 128 S.Ct. 2783, 171 L.Ed.2d 637 (2008) (finding District of Columbia's prohibition on in-home possession of handguns unconstitutional), the Second Amendment prohibits any infringement on the right to bear arms; he was convicted of a nonexistent offense; and his claim fits within the "savings clause" of 28 U.S.C. § 2255 because § 922(g) is facially unconstitutional.
The court's findings of fact are reviewed for clear error; its legal conclusions, de novo. Padilla v. United States, 416 F.3d 424, 425 (5th Cir. 2005). A § 2241 petition attacking custody resulting from a federally-imposed sentence may be entertained if petitioner establishes that § 2255's remedy is "inadequate or ineffective to test the legality of his detention". 28 U.S.C. § 2255(e). Petitioner must show his claims: (1) are "based on a retroactively applicable Supreme Court decision which establishes that [he] may have been convicted of a nonexistent offense"; and (2) were "foreclosed by circuit law at the time when the claim[s] should have been raised in [his] trial, appeal, or first § 2255 motion". Reyes-Requena v. United States, 243 F.3d 893, 904 (5th Cir. 2001).
The Supreme Court noted in Heller: the Second Amendment "is not unlimited"; and the Court expressly reaffirmed the "longstanding prohibition[] on the possession of firearms by felons. . . ." 554 U.S. at 626-27, 128 S.Ct. 2783. Prior to Heller, in United States v. Darrington, 351 F.3d 632, 633-34 (5th Cir. 2003), our court held that § 922(g), prohibiting the possession of firearms by convicted felons, does not violate the Second Amendment right to bear arms. In 2009, in, the light of Heller, our court reaffirmed Darrington's holding, stating: " Heller provides no basis for reconsidering Darrington". United States v. Anderson, 559 F.3d 348, 352 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 129 S.Ct. 2814, 174 L.Ed.2d 308 (2009).
AFFIRMED.