Federal Judge Drops Gun Charge Against Fargo Street Fair Arrest
Owen Stish was charged in July after carrying a short-barreled rifle, but legal changes regarding the National Firearms Act led to the dismissal.
By Elijah Fitzgerald ·
Fargo federal authorities moved to close a high-profile gun case on Monday, Nov. 2, following a shift in federal law that weakened the basis for the charge. Judge Alice Senechal granted a motion to dismiss the single count against Owen Stish, 27, early in the morning.
Stish, a resident of Minot, was arrested at the Fargo Street Fair on July 17. He was initially charged with illegally possessing firearms as a person with mental disorders. Ten days after that arrest, prosecutors replaced the initial charge with a new count: receiving or possessing a National Firearms Act regulated firearm that was not registered to him. The weapon in question was a short-barreled rifle.
The National Firearms Act imposes strict rules on specific weapons, including short-barreled rifles and silencers. For nearly a century, owners were required to pass a federal background check, register the firearm with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and pay a tax. However, the One Big Beautiful Bill, signed into law in July of last year, removed taxes on most firearms, including those covered by the act.
A gun rights foundation subsequently filed a lawsuit in Texas, arguing that the removal of the tax rendered the registration requirements unconstitutional. A Texas judge agreed, striking down the primary components of the law. This ruling had immediate effects in other jurisdictions. In late August, a separate Cass County case involving a man with a silencer was dismissed based on that same Texas decision.
Federal prosecutors in Fargo had previously indicated they did not plan to drop Stish's case, even after the Texas ruling. On Friday, the office filed a one-page motion to dismiss without listing a specific reason in the document. U.S. Attorney Nick Chase confirmed to The Forum on Monday afternoon that the request was made due to the change in the law.
The dismissal concludes the federal portion of Stish's legal battle. He remains free of the federal charge that had been pending since late July. The case follows a similar trajectory to the silencer possession case dismissed in the region earlier this month.
