US Supreme Court Decides on Gun Ban for Individuals with Domestic Violence Restraining Orders
On Friday, June 21, the US Supreme Court confirmed a federal law prohibiting individuals under domestic-violence restraining orders from owning firearms.
The Supreme Court decided that this federal law, which stops Americans with domestic violence restraining orders from having guns, does not infringe on the Second Amendment.
“Our Nation’s firearm laws have historically included measures to prevent individuals who pose physical threats to others from misusing firearms,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the 8-1 majority.
“In the context of this case, [the current law] is consistent with this historical tradition.”
The case was initiated by Zacky Rahimi, accused of assaulting his girlfriend and discharging his weapon at a witness in a Fort Worth, Texas parking lot in December 2019.
Rahimi’s girlfriend secured a protective order against him in February 2020 after he threatened to shoot her, as reported by the Justice Department.
Eleven months later, police searched Rahimi’s apartment and found firearms along with a copy of the restraining order.
Rahimi admitted to violating the federal gun law but contended that the restriction breached his Second Amendment rights, which led to the case being presented.
The Supreme Court has now declared that the law preventing those considered dangerous and violent from owning firearms does not violate the Second Amendment.
In an 8-1 decision, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. stated that “if a restraining order includes a finding that an individual poses a credible threat to the physical safety of an intimate partner, that person may — in accordance with the Second Amendment — be prohibited from possessing firearms while the order is in effect.”
This decision overturned a 2023 ruling by the New Orleans-based 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals, where a three-judge panel concluded that the restraining order ban did not meet the criteria set by the Supreme Court’s landmark 2022 ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, which requires gun laws to align with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.