Professor Jacob Charles, "The Founders Didn't Disarm Domestic Abusers: Does That Mean We Can't?" -- The Hill

Professor Jacob D. Charles's opinion article, "The Founders Didn't Disarm Domestic Abusers: Does That Mean We Can't?" is published in The Hill. The article considers a federal appeals court ruling in Texas that the lack of historical laws like those disarming domestic abusers means the Second Amendment forbids disarming most abusers today.

Excerpt from "The Founders Didn't Disarm Domestic Abusers: Does That Mean We Can't?"

The law at issue in the case was the federal bar on firearm possession for any person “subject to a court order that restrains such person from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner” that meets other criteria, such as a court finding that the person “represents a credible threat” to the other. The law temporarily separates a person subject to such a restraining order from his guns. 

Research amply testifies to the deadly combination posed by firearms and domestic violence. Nearly 1 million women report being shot or shot at by an intimate partner, and guns are the weapon of choice for abusers. An abuser’s access to firearms increases a woman’s risk of being murdered fivefold. 

But the Supreme Court’s test renders these statistics irrelevant. All that matters is whether the government can find a historical precedent to justify disarming abusers today.   

The complete article may be found at The Hill