The Department of Justice requests that the U.S. Supreme Court uphold a federal restriction forbidding those under domestic violence restraining orders from possessing firearms.
After a federal appeals court declared last month that people with domestic violence restraining orders had a constitutional right to carry guns, the Justice Department is requesting the intervention.
“More than a million incidents of domestic violence occur in the United States every year, and the presence of a firearm enhances the probability that violence will escalate to homicide,” a Justice Department petition argues.
Police in Texas discovered a rifle and a pistol at the residence of a man who was the target of a civil protection order prohibiting him from harassing, stalking, or threatening his ex-girlfriend and their child. This discovery sparked a nationwide discussion. The decree also forbade him from possessing weapons.
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A federal grand jury charged the man, and he admitted guilt. Afterward, he contested his conviction, claiming the legislation barring gun ownership was illegal.
Initially, a federal appeals court dismissed his case, finding that society would benefit more from preventing guns from falling into the hands of those accused of domestic violence than from upholding an individual’s right to bear arms.
However, in a new ruling last year in the case of New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, the U.S. Supreme Court established new guidelines for interpreting the Second Amendment by stating that the government must demonstrate that gun control laws are “consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”
The appeals court reversed its earlier verdict and overturned the man’s conviction, finding that the federal legislation prohibiting those under domestic violence restraining orders from possessing firearms was unconstitutional.
Judges Cory Wilson, James Ho, and Edith Jones made up the three-judge panel that decided the case. The nomination of Wilson and Ho came from former Republican President Trump. Reagan, a former Republican president, made Jones his choice.
