Denver, Colo., Aug 23, 2023 / 15:49 pm
The U.S. Supreme Court should uphold a federal law that allows people under domestic restraining orders to be banned from carrying firearms, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has said in an amicus brief in a pending U.S. Supreme Court case.
“As the Church teaches, and this nation’s historical traditions demonstrate, the right to bear arms is not an unqualified license that must leave vulnerable family members to live in fear,” said the bishops’ Aug. 22 amicus brief. “Abused victims are precisely the people whom a just government is tasked with protecting. The Second Amendment does not stand as a barrier to their safety.”
The Supreme Court will hear the case U.S. v. Rahimi in its upcoming session in response to a lower court decision.
In May, a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Zackey Rahimi, a Texas drug dealer with a violent history. The lower court vacated his conviction for illegal gun possession while under a domestic violence restraining order, Reuters reported. The court said the 1994 federal law Rahimi violated was not consistent with the Second Amendment and American traditions of law. People who are under domestic violence restraining orders do not lose their constitutional right to own firearms, according to the ruling.