WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a federal gun control law aimed at protecting victims of domestic violence.
In their first Second Amendment case since expanding gun rights in 2022, the justices ruled 8-1 in favor of banning firearms in 1994 so that people under restraining orders would stay away from their spouses or partners. The justices reversed a New Orleans federal appeals court ruling that struck down the law.
Justice Clarence Thomas, author of the 2022 decision, disagreed.
Last week, the court overturned a Trump-era ban on bump stocks, the rapid-fire gun accessories used in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. The court ruled that the Justice Department exceeded its authority in imposing this ban.
Friday’s case resulted directly from the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision in June 2022. A Texas man, Zackey Rahimi, was accused of hitting his girlfriend during an argument in a parking lot and then threatening to shoot her.
In November arguments, some justices expressed concern that a ruling in Rahimi’s favor could also compromise the background check system that the Biden administration says has prevented more than 75,000 gun sales over the past 25 years based on protective orders. against domestic violence.
The case has also been closely watched for its potential to affect cases where other gun ownership laws have been called into question, including the high-profile lawsuit of Hunter Biden. President Joe Biden’s son was convicted of lying on a form to buy a firearm while he was addicted to drugs. His lawyers have signaled that they will appeal.
The decision to strike down the domestic violence gun law could also have signaled the court’s skepticism of other laws. Judges may soon intervene in one or more of these other cases.
Many of the gun law cases arose from the Bruen decision. This high court decision not only expanded Americans’ gun rights under the Constitution, but also changed the way courts must evaluate restrictions on firearms.
Rahimi’s case reached the Supreme Court after prosecutors appealed a ruling that overturned his conviction for possessing weapons while subject to a restraining order.
Rahimi was involved in five shootings over two months in and around Arlington, Texas, U.S. Circuit Judge Cory Wilson noted. When police identified Rahimi as a suspect in the shooting and showed up at his home with a search warrant, he admitted to having guns in the home and being subject to a domestic violence restraining order prohibiting the possession of weapons, Wilson wrote.
But while Rahimi was hardly “a model citizen,” Wilson wrote, the law in question could not be justified by looking at history. That’s the test Justice Clarence Thomas laid out in his opinion for the Bruen court.
The appeals court initially upheld the conviction under a balancing test that included whether the restriction increased public safety. But the panel changed tack after Bruen. At least one district court has upheld the law since the Bruen decision.
Advocates for victims of domestic violence and gun control groups appealed to the court to enforce the law.
Firearms are the weapon most used in homicides of spouses, intimate partners, children or relatives in recent years, according to data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Guns were used in more than half, 57%, of murders in 2020, a year that saw a general increase in domestic violence during the coronavirus pandemic.
Seventy women a month, on average, are shot and killed by intimate partners, according to the gun control group Everytown for Gun Safety.
Gun rights groups supported Rahimi, arguing that the appeals court got it right when it examined American history and found no restrictions close enough to justify a gun ban.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
