The issue focused on the recent federal court decision in Vlandis v. Kiewit, which found that U.S. gun laws are not "unconstitutional" for their impact on individual rights.

In a non-binding opinion, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals said the question is one of first impression. The court had also taken up the case as an appeal from a lower court's ruling.

Vlandis was the result of a 2010 challenge to an Arizona law that required people