Supreme Court Upholds Federal Law Protecting Victims of Domestic Violence

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Supreme Court Upholds Federal Law Protecting Victims of Domestic Violence
Piper Duncan | June 24, 2024

On June 21, the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in favor of a federal law prohibiting those with a domestic violence restraining order against them from possessing a firearm. United States v. Rahimi (2024) served as a test case for the conservative-leaning court, especially after the court’s decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022). In the 2022 case, the court ruled that a New York law requiring a demonstrated “special need” for protection with a firearm to conceal carry outside the home was too restrictive. In the majority opinion, Justice Thomas stated that all gun control laws must have a historical parallel to when the Second Amendment was ratified, which the New York law did not.

In the 2024 case, Justice Roberts argued that the federal law in Rahimi fell in line with America’s regulatory tradition by temporarily disarming an individual who poses a credible threat to another. Multiple justices also argued in favor of the federal law, even in light of Bruen, since the restriction only applied to specific individuals rather than the public as a whole. The case’s respondent, Zackey Rahimi, had a domestic violence restraining order taken out against him by his ex-partner after he physically assaulted her in 2019 and attempted to shoot a witness. He was later arrested after being a suspect in six separate shootings where police found firearms in his possession. He was charged with unlawful firearm possession in a federal court due to his domestic violence restraining order. He pleaded guilty to his charge and received six years in prison.

The Feminist Majority, partnering with the National Network to End Domestic Violence and its then director, Donna Edwards, played a pivotal role in passing the original 1996 Domestic Violence Offender Gun Ban at the heart of the Rahimi case, often referred to as “the Lautenberg Amendment,” after its sponsor, the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.). While individuals convicted of felonies are banned from owning guns, this law also included those convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence.

Rahimi’s case is just one of thousands in the United States, with hundreds of others ending in deaths. Almost half of all women murdered in the United States are killed by an intimate partner, and more than half of these murders are committed with a firearm. Access to a gun by an abuser also increases the risk of homicide by five times. Hundreds of women are killed every year as a result of shootings by intimate partners, making the Supreme Court’s decision on this federal law a significant victory for victims of domestic violence.

https://feminist.org/news/supreme-court-upholds-federal-law-protecting-victims-of-domestic-violence/