In June 2022 the Supreme Court expanded gun rights by declaring the US Constitution protects the right to carry a handgun in public for self-defense. This was a 6-3 ruling (liberal justices in dissent) that struck down New York state’s limits on concealed carry outside the home.
Gun rights are a fiercely divided issue in American culture. The 2022 decision generated much discussion, and now the Court will be taking up a similar dispute over whether a 1994 federal law barring individuals under domestic violence restraining orders from possessing firearms violates the 2nd Amendment.
The case that has prompted this upcoming ruling is of Zackey Rahimi. Mr. Rahimi, of Kennedale, Texas, knocked his girlfriend to the floor after an argument. He then dragged and shoved his girlfriend into his car, causing her to hit her head on the dashboard. A bystander witnessed the event, and upon seeing said bystander Mr. Rahimi went to retrieve his firearm and he fired a shot. He then threatened to shoot his girlfriend.
Mr. Rahimi’s past was littered with infractions. He had a long history of dealing cocaine and was involved in five shootings between December 2020 and January 2021. In one of the shootings, Mr. Rahimi fired bullets from an AR-15 into the house of a drug associate and when police searched his home they found various guns.
“A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
Extracted from the Second Amendment, this was Mr. Rahimi’s plea to the judge to dismiss the illegal gun possession. The judge ended up rejecting the argument, and while Mr. Rahimi pled guilty, he later prevailed on appeal in February of this year. The New Orleans-based 5th Circuit Court of Appeals declared the 1994 law unconstitutional noting that banning someone under domestic violence restraining orders from possessing or owning a gun is “an outlier that our ancestors would have never accepted.”
According to Everytown for Gun Safety, close to two-thirds of domestic homicides in 2019 were committed with a firearm. In 2019 just under 70 women were shot and killed by a romantic partner and 20% of deaths of intimate partners additionally involve the deaths of other family members, children included. This will no doubt be yet another firearm-related ruling that will keep this debate front and center for the foreseeable future.
