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How a Second Amendment case at the Supreme Court is putting gun rights groups in a jam
How a Second Amendment case at the Supreme Court is putting gun rights groups in a jam
John Fritze
USA TODAY
Published 5:04 a.m. ET July 12, 2023 | Updated 8:37 p.m. ET July 12, 2023
WASHINGTON – Zackey Rahimi's legal troubles began in 2019 when he pulled out a gun and fired at a passerby who witnessed him dragging his girlfriend through a parking lot.
Months later, after getting into an accident, Rahimi repeatedly shot at the other driver, court records show. A year later, he threatened another woman with a gun and was charged with aggravated assault. In 2021, he fired several times into the air after a friend's credit card was declined at a burger joint near Fort Worth, Texas.
Rahimi's case is now before the Supreme Court in a blockbuster Second Amendment challenge that may prove especially thorny for the gun lobby and the court's conservative wing. That's because Rahimi is challenging his conviction under a federal law that bars Americans who are subject to restraining orders from owning guns.
“The facts of this case make it really unpalatable for them to have to stand up and say, 'No, we believe that domestic abusers have a Second Amendment right to their firearms,'" said Nick Suplina, senior vice president for law and policy at Everytown for Gun Safety. “Politically speaking, that's deeply unpopular.”
Some gun rights groups pushed back on that characterization, arguing that even if Rahimi himself is an unsympathetic figure, the federal law is still inconsistent in their view with the Second Amendment. Rahimi, they say, could have gone to jail for any number of other crimes.
{snip}
John Fritze
USA TODAY
Published 5:04 a.m. ET July 12, 2023 | Updated 8:37 p.m. ET July 12, 2023
WASHINGTON – Zackey Rahimi's legal troubles began in 2019 when he pulled out a gun and fired at a passerby who witnessed him dragging his girlfriend through a parking lot.
Months later, after getting into an accident, Rahimi repeatedly shot at the other driver, court records show. A year later, he threatened another woman with a gun and was charged with aggravated assault. In 2021, he fired several times into the air after a friend's credit card was declined at a burger joint near Fort Worth, Texas.
Rahimi's case is now before the Supreme Court in a blockbuster Second Amendment challenge that may prove especially thorny for the gun lobby and the court's conservative wing. That's because Rahimi is challenging his conviction under a federal law that bars Americans who are subject to restraining orders from owning guns.
“The facts of this case make it really unpalatable for them to have to stand up and say, 'No, we believe that domestic abusers have a Second Amendment right to their firearms,'" said Nick Suplina, senior vice president for law and policy at Everytown for Gun Safety. “Politically speaking, that's deeply unpopular.”
Some gun rights groups pushed back on that characterization, arguing that even if Rahimi himself is an unsympathetic figure, the federal law is still inconsistent in their view with the Second Amendment. Rahimi, they say, could have gone to jail for any number of other crimes.
{snip}
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