WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to wade back into Second Amendment rights, announcing it will decide whether the government may ban domestic abusers from owning a gun.
Zackey Rahimi is appealing his conviction of violating a federal law that prohibits Americans from possessing a firearm while they are the subject of a restraining order. He argues the Supreme Court’s landmark decision last year striking down a New York gun law means the federal law also violates the Second Amendment.
Last year’s decision struck down a New York law that limited who may obtain a license to carry a handgun in public. As part of that decision, the 6-3 majority ruled that a gun regulations must be “consistent with this nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”
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That new standard has set off a flurry of work by states and gun control advocates to find historical antecedents to modern day gun regulations. A federal appeals court in Louisiana earlier this year sided with Rahimi, finding that the law was a historical “outlier that our ancestors would never have accepted.”
Rahimi was involved in five shootings around Arlington, Texas, from late 2020 to early 2021. Police identified him as a suspect, obtained a warrant to search his home and found a rifle and a pistol. They also found a copy of a restraining order issued against him in 2020 after a physical fight with his girlfriend.
The case is U.S. v. Rahimi. The Supreme Court will likely hear arguments later this year.