People placed under restraining orders for suspected domestic violence do not have a right to own guns, the Supreme Court has ruled.
The 8-1 decision upholds a 30-year-old law that bars those with restraining orders for domestic abuse from owning firearms.
A lower court had struck down that federal statute as not “consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation”.
Friday’s ruling marks a rare victory for firearms restrictions in the top court.
Chief Justice John Roberts delivered the majority opinion, with all but one of his colleagues in agreement.
The policy of disarming alleged domestic abusers is in line with “what common sense suggests”, he wrote.
“When an individual poses a clear threat of physical violence to another, the threatening individual may be disarmed,” he said.
Justice Clarence Thomas, arguably the most conservative member of the court, was the lone dissenter.
He wrote that “today’s decision puts at risk the Second Amendment rights of many more”.
At the centre of the case decided on Friday was Zackey Rahimi, a Texas man with a history of armed violence against girlfriends and shootings in public places.
In 2020, his then-girlfriend was granted a restraining order by a court after he dragged her into his car, causing her to hit her head on the dashboard during an argument near his Arlington, Texas, home. He also shot at a bystander who witnessed the assault.
Despite a court order suspending his handgun licence and barring him from possessing any firearms, he kept his weapons and was involved in five shootings in public later that year.
A small-time drug dealer, according to court filings, Rahimi is currently serving a six-year sentence in a Texas federal prison after pleading guilty to violating the court order.
He is also currently awaiting state charges related to his shooting spree.
The US Constitution’s Second Amendment guarantees the right “to keep and bear arms”.
In 2022, the US Supreme Court significantly expanded gun rights when it decided the Second Amendment protects a broad right to carry a handgun outside the home for self-defence. (BBC)