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Abstract: 

The landmark Supreme Court decision in United States v. Rahimi upheld the federal law restricting certain respondents to domestic violence protection orders (DVPOs) from possessing firearms, overturning a potentially disastrous ruling by the 5th Circuit, which had incorrectly applied the Supreme Court’s ruling in NYSRPA v. Bruen. In this article, two noted anti-violence advocates summarize and analyze the Court’s 8-1 ruling, explain the evolution of legislation that led to this ruling, and analyze the objections that have been raised to this Second Amendment restriction. Their “concurrence” suggests that while upholding the gun ban will save lives, the Court could have gone farther in asserting the federal government’s right to restrict firearm possession by abusers. In particular, the Court did not address the “extensive and poorly informed editorializing about civil domestic violence protection orders” by the 5th Circuit, which were echoed in a dissent to Rahimi by Justice Thomas.

Keywords: Domestic Violence Protection Orders (DVPOs); Domestic Violence and Firearms; 18 USC 922(g)(8); NYSRPA v. Bruen

Affiliations:  1: Jewish Women International; 2: Battered Women’s Justice Project.