PHOENIX–Attorney General Mayes today urged the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an important case to preserve states’ authority to bar individuals subject to domestic violence restraining orders from accessing guns. Attorney General Mayes joined a coalition of 25 attorneys general, co-led by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb, in filing an amicus brief today in the U.S. Supreme Court, urging the court to review the case, United States v. Rahimi.
Federal law bars people subject to domestic violence restraining orders from possessing firearms. The defendant in Rahimi – who was under a domestic violence restraining order issued by a state court in Texas for assaulting and shooting at his girlfriend – challenged the statute on the ground that it violates the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and the United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit issued an opinion earlier this year agreeing. Attorney General Mayes and the coalition are asking the Supreme Court to hear the case, overrule the lower court and restore the federal law.
“Domestic violence restraining orders exist to protect victims from further harm at the hands of their abusers,” said Attorney General Mayes. “Allowing individuals with domestic violence restraining orders access to firearms puts their victims at risk and endangers the broader community. I urge the Supreme Court to hear this case and restore the ability of states to protect their residents from this type of violence.”
In addition to the federal law, nearly every state in the country has enacted a law limiting access to firearms for those subject to domestic violence restraining orders. Attorney General Mayes and the attorneys general argue that the appeals court ruling puts at risk domestic violence victims who may be harmed or killed by their abusers, and hamstrings both the federal government and states in their efforts to protect their residents’ safety.
The attorneys general argue that statutes of this sort are both constitutional and lifesaving. Studies have shown that such measures reduce homicides of both intimate partners and law enforcement officers. An abuser is five times more likely to murder his or her intimate partner if a firearm is in the home. In the United States, 80% of these homicide victims are women, and pregnant women and women of color are disproportionately the targets of intimate partner violence.
Attorney General Mayes is joined in filing the brief by the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.
