The Texas Department of Public Safety’s attempt to revoke Timothy Willis’ License to Carry just ran into a major new problem.
For months, DPS has continued fighting to revoke Willis’ LTC based on a decades-old Georgia divorce order that contains no finding that Willis was violent, dangerous, or a credible threat to anyone.
Texas Gun Rights Foundation has already beaten DPS three times on this issue.
Now, a new Texas Supreme Court decision may make DPS’ position even harder to defend.
THE TEXAS SUPREME COURT WEIGHS IN
In Noyes v. State for the Protection of Voges, the Texas Supreme Court ordered a lower court to reconsider a lifetime firearm prohibition issued through a protective order.
The order in that case barred Jonathan Noyes from possessing firearms for the rest of the protected party’s life.
But after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Rahimi, the Texas Supreme Court sent the case back for further review of Noyes’ Second Amendment and Texas Arms Clause arguments.
The key issue is whether the government can impose a firearm ban without the individualized dangerousness finding and temporary limitation Rahimi emphasized.
Justice James Sullivan’s concurrence was especially important.
He warned that Texas’ protective-order statute raises “grave constitutional concerns” when used to impose lifetime disarmament without a finding that the person is dangerous.
That is exactly the kind of issue at the center of Timothy Willis’ fight with DPS.
RAHIMI DOES NOT HELP DPS
DPS appears to be leaning on Rahimi to justify its position.
But Rahimi upheld temporary disarmament only where a court had found that the person posed a credible threat to another person’s physical safety.
That is not what happened here.
The Georgia order DPS is relying on against Willis does not say he committed violence.
It does not say he threatened anyone with a firearm.
It does not say he posed a credible threat to anyone’s physical safety.
And it was not a one-sided order identifying Willis as the dangerous party.
It was a mutual divorce order that applied to both parties.
In fact, the Texas trial court expressly found that no court has ever found Willis to be a credible threat.
That should end the matter.
But DPS is still trying to use that stale, reciprocal order to strip Willis of his License to Carry.
That is why TXGR Foundation attorney CJ Grisham has now filed a Notice of Supplemental Authority asking the Fifteenth Court of Appeals to consider Noyes.
In the filing, Grisham argues that Noyes reinforces what TXGR Foundation has said all along:
Rahimi does not authorize the disarmament of someone no court has found dangerous based on an old, reciprocal, finding-free order.
A CIVIL ORDER SHOULD NOT BECOME A LIFETIME GUN BAN
The implications go far beyond Timothy Willis.
If DPS gets away with this, then old civil orders with no findings of violence could be twisted into lifetime firearm disabilities.
A mutual stay-away order from a divorce case could become a weapon against gun owners decades later.
And unelected agency lawyers could use interpretation games to do what the law does not allow.
That is not how rights work.
The Second Amendment is not supposed to depend on whether a bureaucrat can dig up old paperwork and stretch it beyond recognition.
And the Texas Constitution’s Arms Clause is not supposed to be treated like a suggestion.
The Texas Supreme Court’s Noyes decision confirms that these questions deserve serious constitutional scrutiny.
And that scrutiny should be fatal to DPS’ case against Willis.
TEXAS GUN RIGHTS FOUNDATION IS STILL FIGHTING
Texas Gun Rights Foundation has already defeated DPS three times on behalf of Timothy Willis.
But DPS refuses to stop.
Rather than accept the law as written, the agency is dragging Willis deeper into court, forcing him to defend rights he should never have had to fight to keep.
As TXGR Foundation attorney CJ Grisham explained:
“DPS is trying to turn an old reciprocal divorce order with no dangerousness finding into a firearm disability. Noyes makes clear that Rahimi does not give the government that kind of power. The Constitution requires more than stale paperwork and bureaucratic assumptions before the government can strip someone of his gun rights.”
Texas Gun Rights Foundation is drawing the line.
Because if DPS can do this to Timothy Willis, it can do it to other gun owners too.
But courtroom fights are expensive.
And unlike government agencies with taxpayer-funded lawyers, Texas Gun Rights Foundation depends on grassroots patriots who understand what is at stake.
Chip in $25, $50, or even $100 today to help Texas Gun Rights Foundation defend gun owners, fight government overreach, and stop unconstitutional firearm restrictions before they spread.
