On Tuesday, the Supreme Court decided in favor of a law barring people convicted of domestic violence crimes from owning guns. In a 7-2 decision, the court said laws against battery do not need to specifically mention domestic violence to fall under the domestic violence gun ban. That ban was enacted in 1996.
The case centered around Randy Edwards Hayes, a West Virginia man who had previously been convicted of domestic violence. Thus his ownership of a gun lead to a federal felony indictment for gun possession.
“If the case had gone the other way, there are thousands of people who currently are prohibited from buying guns who would have been allowed to buy guns. Women in abusive situations would have been more at risk. Police officers responding to domestic violence calls would have been more at risk,” said Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
The two dissenting opinions in the case were Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anton Scalia.
Wrong, the court upheld that a specific law could apply to a non-specific charge. The constitutionality of the gun ban itself was not directly addressed, and would likely be stricken down if it was.