Supreme Court Rules Domestic Abusers Can Lose Their Gun-Ownership Rights

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday expanded the types of domestic violence convictions that can trigger the loss of gun ownership rights in a ruling issued amid fierce debate about reducing firearms violence in America.

The SCOTUS ruling is an affirmation that violent acts “committed in the heat of an argument” will be viewed the same as “intentional acts of abuse”, when considering who can or cannot exercise Second Amendment rights.

Both men argued that they were not subject to the prohibition “because their prior convictions could have been based on reckless, rather than knowing or intentional, conduct and thus did not quality as misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence”, according to the court opinion.

Thomas’s dissent reflected the views of some gun rights groups, who argued that the men shouldn’t lose their constitutional right to bear arms because of misdemeanor abuse convictions.

The nation’s highest court ruled otherwise. Justice Clarence Thomas, a fierce gun rights defender, dissented and said the decision showed an unparalleled disregard for the Second Amendment.

Stephen Voisine was convicted of misdemeanor assault of his girlfriend not once but twice-in 2003 and 2005.

Thomas’s comments came just two weeks after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. A few years after Stephen Voisine entered his guilty plea in 2004, he got in trouble again, this time for killing a bald eagle.

Justices considered the question: “Does a misdemeanor crime with the mens rea of recklessness qualify as a “misdemeanor crime of domestic violence” as defined by [federal law]?” “It suspends a constitutional right”.

The other case involved William Armstrong III, who pleaded guilty to simple assault in 2002 after pushing his wife during an argument and leaving a “red mark”. A few years later, police searching Armstrong’s home as part of a narcotics investigation discovered firearms and ammunition.

Congress recognized that “guns and domestic violence are a lethal combination”, the panel said.

Some advocates, such as Judge Judy Harris Kluger, executive director of Sanctuary for Families, said that while the ruling is a good step, loopholes in current gun laws still allow convicted abusers to access firearms with relative ease. He originally was sentenced to three months of probation and ordered to pay a $2,500 fine in February 2012.