United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit

_____________ FILED January 13, 2025 No. 23-50840 Lyle W. Cayce consolidated with Clerk No. 23-50845 _____________ United States of America,

Plaintiff—Appellee,

versus Taegan Ray Contreras,

Defendant—Appellant. ______________________________

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas USDC Nos. 7:23-CR-76-1, 7:21-CR-20-1 ______________________________ Before Richman, Graves, and Ramirez, Circuit Judges. James E. Graves, Jr., Circuit Judge: Defendant-Appellant Taegan Ray Contreras was charged with possessing a firearm as a felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). He moved to dismiss the charge, contending that the statute violates the Second Amendment, both facially and as applied to him. The district court denied the motion, and Contreras was convicted and sentenced. He appealed, again raising facial and as-applied challenges to § 922(g)(1). We reiterate that § Case: 23-50840 Document: 95-1 Page: 2 Date Filed: 01/13/2025

No. 23-50840 c/w No. 23-50845 922(g)(1) is facially constitutional and conclude that it is constitutional as applied to Contreras. Accordingly, we AFFIRM. I. In 2020, Taegan Ray Contreras was twice caught possessing less than two ounces of marijuana, leading to misdemeanor convictions. The following year, the District Court for the Western District of Texas sentenced Contreras to 24 months’ imprisonment and three years of supervised release for being a user in possession of a firearm. On September 30, 2022, Contreras began serving his term of supervised release for the firearm offense. A few months later, in January 2023, Midland-Odessa Police Department detectives began investigating Contreras’ social media accounts. They learned he possessed a pink Glock handgun, despite being prohibited from possessing a firearm due to his federal firearm conviction. By late March, the detectives applied for a tracker warrant and placed the tracker on Mr. Contreras’ vehicle. While surveilling the car, detectives saw Contreras commit a traffic violation. The detectives stopped Contreras, identified him as the driver, and smelled marijuana coming from the car. As they detained him, they smelled marijuana on his person. Then, as they searched the vehicle, they found eight grams of marijuana, packaging, a scale, marijuana residue scattered throughout, and a loaded pink 9-millimeter Glock with a 10-round magazine attached. The detectives arrested Contreras and took him to the police department, where he admitted both that the firearm was his and that he was a convicted felon. The Government indicted Contreras on one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1).

2 Case: 23-50840 Document: 95-1 Page: 3 Date Filed: 01/13/2025

No. 23-50840 c/w No. 23-50845

Contreras moved to dismiss the indictment, arguing that § 922(g)(1) violated the Second Amendment and was inconsistent with the Supreme Court’s holding in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, 597 U.S