A three judge panel found that the right to keep arms necessarily includes the right to purchase them, rendering the government's categorical ban on interstate sales unconstitutional. The 2 1 ruling from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals stated the prohibition sullies the plain text of the Second Amendment and conflicts with the founding era's firearms regulations. Judge Haynes dissented, arguing the challenged provisions are constitutional.

The decision creates a legal split with the Second Circuit regarding the legality of direct handgun purchases across state lines. The court's majority rejected the government's historical analogues as too dissimilar to justify the ban. Judge Haynes' three sentence dissent affirmed a prior district court finding that the federal ban does not violate the Second Amendment.