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It's now legal for domestic abusers to own a gun in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi
VoxA panel of judges on an exceedingly reactionary federal appeals court ruled on Thursday that the federal law prohibiting individuals from “possessing a firearm while under a domestic violence restraining order” is unconstitutional.
Under Judge Cory Wilson’s opinion in United States v. Rahimi, people with a history of violent abuse of their romantic partners or the partners’ children now have a Second Amendment right to own a gun, even if a court has determined that they are “a credible threat to the physical safety of such intimate partner or child.”
The immediate impact of this decision is that Zackey Rahimi, who “was subject to an agreed civil protective order entered February 5, 2020, by a Texas state court after Rahimi’s alleged assault of his ex-girlfriend,” may not be convicted of violating the federal ban on gun possession by domestic abusers.
More broadly, because the decision was handed down by the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which presides over federal lawsuits in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, this federal law can no longer be enforced in those three states.
One of the most alarming things about Rahimi, moreover, is that it is far from clear that this decision is wrong — at least under a new precedent the Supreme Court handed down last year drastically expanding the Second Amendment.
Under Judge Cory Wilson’s opinion in United States v. Rahimi, people with a history of violent abuse of their romantic partners or the partners’ children now have a Second Amendment right to own a gun, even if a court has determined that they are “a credible threat to the physical safety of such intimate partner or child.”
The immediate impact of this decision is that Zackey Rahimi, who “was subject to an agreed civil protective order entered February 5, 2020, by a Texas state court after Rahimi’s alleged assault of his ex-girlfriend,” may not be convicted of violating the federal ban on gun possession by domestic abusers.
More broadly, because the decision was handed down by the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which presides over federal lawsuits in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, this federal law can no longer be enforced in those three states.
One of the most alarming things about Rahimi, moreover, is that it is far from clear that this decision is wrong — at least under a new precedent the Supreme Court handed down last year drastically expanding the Second Amendment.
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I have stories... this is so wrong
