Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Justice Department sought to further erode constitutional rights with a move to challenge a lower court decision on firearm ownership via “longstanding tradition.”
Throughout President Joe Biden’s administration, no opportunity to further promote gun grabbing has gone overlooked as demonstrated through funding red flag laws on the backs of the victims of the tragedy in Uvalde, Texas. Now, after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth District ruled in favor of a man charged with possession of a firearm while under a domestic violence protective order, United States v. Zackey Rahimi, the DOJ wants to head to the Supreme Court to muddy the waters on lawful gun ownership.
In a petition filed this month, the Justice Department argued against the ruling of the appeals court based on legal tradition and the determination in District of Columbia v. Heller that the Second Amendment wasn’t inherently unlimited.
They wrote, “In keeping with that history, this Court explained in Heller that the right to keep and bear arms belongs only to ‘law-abiding, responsible citizens…Those descriptions suggest that the government may properly disarm citizens who are dangerous, irresponsible, or unlikely to abide by the law.”
However, according to U.S. District Judge Cory Wilson, “The question presented in this case is not whether prohibiting the possession of firearms by someone subject to a domestic violence restraining order is a laudable policy goal. The questions is whether 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8), a specific statute that does so, is constitutional under the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution. In the light of the N.Y. State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n, Inc. v. Bruen, 142 S. Ct. 2111 (2022), it is not.”
Federal court strikes down decades-old gun law targeting domestic violence https://t.co/ArjCa52wx8 pic.twitter.com/ysuTQQJIPt
— Conservative News (@BIZPACReview) February 4, 2023
Rahimi had initially lost his case after being found by Texas police to be in the possession of a rifle and a pistol in violation of a restraining order related to his girlfriend whom he was said to have harassed and stalked.
He had initially lost his case until the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on Bruen and affirmed that the state of New York had overstepped the Constitution by trying to restrict who could have access to a firearm permit.
SCOTUS delivers NY a huge blow and the Second Amendment a win on gun ruling https://t.co/L6ChIds2Rp
— American Wire News (@americanwire_) June 23, 2022
Based on that ruling, Rahimi was able to successfully appeal his case, but the Justice Department refused to accept that they could not restrict gun ownership.
“Governments have long disarmed individuals who pose a threat to the safety of others,” the DOJ’s petition argued and claimed, “The Fifth Circuit’s contrary decision misapplies this Court’s precedents, conflicts with the decisions of other courts of appeals, and threatens grave harms for victims of domestic violence,” and went on to argue it “fits squarely within the longstanding tradition of disarming dangerous individuals.”
Garland himself had stated after the appeals court’s ruling, “Whether analyzed through the lens of Supreme Court precedent, or of the text, history, and tradition of the Second Amendment, that statute is constitutional.”
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Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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