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A2 UP FRONT
Saturday 22 June 2024
The Supreme Court upholds a gun control law intended to protect

domestic violence victims

Continued from Front

The court ruled that the Jus-
tice Department exceed-
ed its authority in imposing
that ban.
Friday's case stemmed di-
rectly from the Supreme
Court's Bruen decision in
June 2022. A Texas man,
Zackey Rahimi, was ac-
cused of hitting his girlfriend
during an argument in a
parking lot and later threat-
ening to shoot her.
At arguments in November,
some justices voiced con-
cern that a ruling for Rahimi
could also jeopardize the
background check system
that the Biden administra-
tion said has stopped more
than 75,000 gun sales in the
past 25 years based on do-
mestic violence protective
orders.
The case also had been
closely watched for its po-
tential to affect cases in
which other gun ownership
laws have been called into
question, including in the Rev. Patrick Mahoney demonstrates as the Supreme Court announces decisions, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, June 21,
2024.
high-profile prosecution of Associated Press
Hunter Biden. Biden's son
was convicted of lying on a
form to buy a firearm while rights cases. "These prec- three liberal justices who der that prohibited gun the text and history of the
he was addicted to drugs. edents were not meant to dissented in the Bruen case. possession, Wilson wrote. Second Amendment," Gar-
His lawyers have signaled suggest a law trapped in Justice Brett Kavanaugh, But even though Rahimi land said in a statement.
they will appeal. amber," he wrote. who was part of the Bruen was hardly "a model citi- Advocates for domestic
A decision to strike down In dissent, Thomas wrote, majority, noted that the zen," Wilson wrote, the law violence victims and gun
the domestic violence gun the law "strips an individual court probably will have at issue could not be justi- control groups had called
law might have signaled of his ability to possess fire- many more cases about fied by looking to history. on the court to uphold the
the court's skepticism of the arms and ammunition with- the reach of gun rights That's the test Justice Tho- law.
other laws as well. But Fri- out any due process." because "Second Amend- mas laid out in his opinion Firearms are the most com-
day's decision did not sug- The government "failed to ment jurisprudence is in its for the court in Bruen. mon weapon used in homi-
gest that the court would produce any evidence" early innings." It was only The appeals court initially cides of spouses, intimate
necessarily uphold those that the law is consistent in 2008 that the court de- upheld the conviction un- partners, children or rela-
law either. with the nation's historical clared for the first time that der a balancing test that tives in recent years, ac-
The justices could weigh tradition of firearm regula- the Constitution protects included whether the re- cording to data from the
in soon in one or more of tion, he wrote. an individual's right to keep striction enhances public federal Centers for Disease
those other cases. "Not a single historical regu- and bear arms. safety. But the panel re- Control and Prevention.
Many of the gun law cases lation justifies the statute at Rahimi's case reached the versed course after Bruen. Guns were used in more
grow out of the Bruen deci- issue," Thomas wrote. Supreme Court after pros- At least one district court than half, 57%, of those
sion. That high court ruling Seven of the nine justices ecutors appealed a ruling has upheld the law since killings in 2020, a year that
not only expanded Ameri- wrote opinions in the guns that threw out his convic- the Bruen decision. saw an overall increase in
cans' gun rights under case spanning 94 pages, tion for possessing guns After the ruling, Attorney domestic violence during
the Constitution but also mainly focused on the while subject to a restrain- General Merrick Garland the coronavirus pandemic.
changed the way courts proper use of history in ing order. said the Justice Depart- Seventy women a month,
are supposed to evaluate evaluating gun restrictions Rahimi was involved in five ment "will continue to en- on average, are shot and
restrictions on firearms. and other limitations on shootings over two months force this important statute, killed by intimate partners,
Roberts turned to history constitutional rights. in and around Arlington, which for nearly 30 years according to the gun con-
in his opinion. "Since the Justice Sonia Sotomayor Texas, U.S. Circuit Judge has helped to protect vic- trol group Everytown for
founding, our nation's fire- wrote that Roberts' opinion Cory Wilson noted. tims and survivors of do- Gun Safety.
arm laws have included "permits a historical inquiry When police identified mestic violence from their Gun rights groups backed
provisions preventing indi- calibrated to reveal some- Rahimi as a suspect in the abusers." Rahimi, arguing that the
viduals who threaten physi- thing useful and transfer- shootings and showed up "As the Justice Department appeals court got it right
cal harm to others from mis- able to the present day, at his home with a search argued, and as the Court when it looked at Ameri-
using firearms," he wrote. while the dissent would warrant, he admitted hav- reaffirmed today, that can history and found no
Some courts have gone too make the historical inquiry ing guns in the house and commonsense prohibition restriction close enough to
far, Roberts wrote, in apply- so exacting as to be use- being subject to a domes- is entirely consistent with justify the gun ban.q
ing Bruen and other gun less." She was among the tic violence restraining or- the Court's precedent and