Balkinization  

Tuesday, February 21, 2023

The Supreme Court Lets Domestic Abusers Have Their Guns

Andrew Koppelman

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals declared earlier this month that even when a person has a demonstrated history of violent abuse of their romantic partners or the partners’ children, and even when a court has determined that the person is “a credible threat to the physical safety of such intimate partner or child,” that abuser has a Second Amendment right to possess as many guns as he wants. Laws restricting such possession exist in many states, backed up by the federal statute that the court struck down.

People will certainly die as a result of this ruling. Nearly half of female homicide victims are killed by intimate partners, usually with a gun. The restrictions now struck down have been found to reduce such homicides by as much as 25 per cent. Domestic abusers are also likely to kill police officers. Moreover, most perpetrators of mass shootings have a history of domestic violence.

But don’t blame the judges of the Fifth Circuit, which is notorious for conservative activism. It faithfully applied the (not-really-originalist) rules that the Supreme Court laid down last June in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen.

I explain in a new piece at The American Prospect, here.


Older Posts
Newer Posts
Home