Supreme Court May Uphold Gun Bans For Accused Domestic Abusers
News outlets report that though some Supreme Court justices seemed skeptical on the matter, they may be inclined to uphold a law banning those accused of domestic abuse from owning guns — showing "little sympathy" for one abuser who was arguing for his Second Amendment gun rights.
The Wall Street Journal:
A Skeptical Supreme Court Considers Whether Domestic Abusers Have Gun Rights
Supreme Court justices showed little sympathy Tuesday for a violent domestic abuser arguing he had a Second Amendment right to keep a semiautomatic rifle and a .45 caliber pistol at home, in arguments over the scope of a 2022 precedent holding gun regulations unconstitutional unless they are analogous to those in force in the founding era. “You don’t have any doubt that your client’s a dangerous person, do you?” Chief Justice John Roberts asked Matthew Wright, a federal public defender representing Zackey Rahimi, who was sentenced to more than six years for violating a federal law prohibiting people under domestic-violence protective orders from possessing firearms. (Bravin, 11/7)
Politico:
Supreme Court Looks Poised To Uphold Ban On Guns For Accused Domestic Abusers
Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett — two conservatives who may provide key votes in the case — did not seem particularly troubled by the domestic-abuser restriction Congress adopted in 1994, even as they expressed concerns that some government efforts to deny guns to people deemed dangerous could run afoul of the Second Amendment or of due process rights. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, another potentially pivotal vote, was fairly quiet during the argument, though he did raise the prospect that striking down the law could imperil portions of a federal background-check system. (Gerstein, 11/7)
AP:
Why One Survivor Of Domestic Violence Wants The Supreme Court To Uphold A Gun Control Law
Ruth Glenn knows from harrowing personal experience the danger of putting a gun in the hands of a violent spouse or partner, the issue at the heart of a case before the Supreme Court. On a beautiful June evening in 1992, Glenn was shot three times, twice in the head, and left for dead outside a Denver car wash. The shooter was her estranged husband, Cedric, who was under a court order to stay away from Glenn. But there was no federal law on the books at the time that prohibited him from having a gun. (Sherman and Whitehurst, 11/6)
In related news about the gun violence epidemic —
AP:
Mother Whose Daughter Was Killed In Uvalde School Shooting Loses Bid For Mayor
In Uvalde’s first mayoral race since the Robb Elementary School shooting, former mayor Cody Smith won back the job Tuesday over Kimberly Mata-Rubio, a mother who has led calls for tougher gun laws since her daughter was among the 19 children killed in the 2022 attack. The race tested the mood of the South Texas town more than a year after one of America’s deadliest mass shootings and a botched police response that remains under criminal investigation. Two teachers were also killed in the attack, which was carried out by a teenage gunman with an AR-style rifle. (11/7)
