Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday said he filed an amicus brief in the United States Supreme Court in defense of a federal law that prohibits individuals under domestic violence restraining orders from possessing firearms.
The case, United States v. Rahimi, is being heard by the Supreme Court following the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals's decision ruling this lifesaving federal “red flag” law unconstitutional under the Second Amendment.
The governor’s brief argues that the lower court incorrectly interpreted the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision last year and that the federal government’s ability to enact gun regulations to protect families from dangerous individuals is supported by a longstanding historical tradition.
“It’s simple: Domestic abusers shouldn’t have guns, and America’s gun safety laws are supported by the Constitution and longstanding historical tradition. The Second Amendment is not a suicide pact. The Supreme Court must reverse the lower court’s decision,” said Newsom.
Newsom’s action to file an amicus brief followed Monday’s action by House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force Chairman Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-04) and Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who led 151 representatives and 18 senators in an amicus brief which repudiates the Fifth Circuit’s decision in Rahimi and calls on the Supreme Court to set a clear standard that allows for Congress to pass laws that keep the American people safe.
Thompson’s office called the Fifth Circuit’s ruling in Rahimi “one of the many disturbing decisions concerning gun violence that have been influenced by the recent Bruen decision.”
“The Fifth Circuit’s ruling in the Rahimi case has tragic and dangerous implications for people in domestic violence situations,” said Thompson. “I believe it is the responsibility of Congress to ensure that our laws protect the most vulnerable among us. The availability of firearms to be possessed by individuals with domestic violence restraining orders can escalate domestic violence and increase the risk of death or serious injury — the Supreme Court must not allow this to happen.”
The defendant in United States v. Rahimi was suspected of five shootings in Texas between 2020 and 2021. Police searched his home and found multiple firearms. He had a domestic violence restraining order which prevented him from owning a firearm under federal law.
The New Orleans-based Fifth Circuit agreed to rehear his case after the Bruen decision and applied the new “history and tradition” legal test. The court found that the federal statute was not sufficiently similar to any historical laws raised by the government. The prosecutor presented numerous historical laws that disarmed individuals dating from the colonial period. The court thought these laws were aimed at preserving political and social order, and not protecting an identified person from a specific threat posed by another.
If the Fifth Circuit decision in Rahimi is upheld, Thompson’s office said “it would open the floodgates to domestic violence abusers and other dangerous people seeking to possess firearms.”
California has its own red flag laws that allow victims of domestic violence to seek protective orders to prohibit their abuser from possessing a gun.
Across the nation, 45 states have similar laws enacted that limit the ability of those under a domestic violence restraining order from accessing firearms — saving lives and protecting victims from potential violence.
The governor’s amicus brief defends the federal government’s ability to enact commonsense gun safety laws, and builds on California’s longstanding efforts to reduce gun violence, protect victims and survivors, and save lives.
Recently, the governor introduced a proposal to end the gun violence crisis through a historic amendment to the U.S. Constitution, signed a package of gun safety laws making it easier for Californians to sue manufacturers of illegal assault weapons and those bringing them into our communities, allowing lawsuits against irresponsible gun industry members, strengthening prohibitions on ghost guns, and restricting marketing to minors.
The governor also launched an 18-month campaign to promote gun violence restraining orders.
A study from the Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California, Davis found that California’s red flag law has been used to stop 58 threatened mass shootings since 2016.
California’s gun safety laws work. In 2021, California was ranked as the No. 1 state for gun safety by the Giffords Law Center, and the state saw a 43% lower gun death rate than the national average.
According to the CDC, California’s gun death rate was the 44th lowest in the nation, with 8.5 gun deaths per 100,000 people – compared to 13.7 deaths per 100,000 nationally, 28.6 in Mississippi, 20.7 in Oklahoma, and 14.2 in Texas.
A copy of the amicus brief is available here.
Governor, members of Congress file amicus briefs in U.S. Supreme Court case on gun access in domestic violence cases
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