U.S. top court rejects appeal of felon gun ownership ruling

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the Trump administration's appeal of a lower court ruling loosening the federal prohibition on convicted felons possessing guns in a case involving two Pennsylvania men convicted of non-violent crimes who challenged the ban.

The justices let stand a lower court's 2016 ruling that suggested denying felons whose crimes were not serious the right to own guns violated the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment, which protects the right to "keep and bear arms." That ruling, which allows individuals to challenge the prohibition as applied to them, was a blow to gun control advocates, while the Trump administration called it a threat to public safety.

Liberal Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor said they would have granted the appeal to hear the case.

The 3rd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling does not set a nationwide legal precedent.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)