Supreme Court to Decide a Case on Whether the Government Can Disarm People Subject to Domestic Abuse Restraining Orders

The U.S. Court heard argument in a case where the question is whether the Government can disarm people who are subject to domestic abuse restraining orders, without being convicted of a crime. Current federal law bars those subject to domestic abuse restraining orders from legally possessing a firearm. A conservative appeals court in Texas recently struck down the law because it could not find a “suitable historical analog” for the law. In a landmark decision last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that long ago historical practices, when the U.S. Constitution was originally drafted, are all that matter in assessing challenges to gun laws. In plain English, courts now must look back in U.S. history to the 1790’s, for clear examples of limitations on the right to possess firearms. The Government has argued that the current restriction on those subject to domestic abuse restraining orders is necessary to respond to growing gun violence in today’s society, that the Founding Fathers of this country never had to deal with. The case is expected to be decided by the end of the current U.S. Supreme Court term.