Tuesday, June 28, 2016
The Supreme Court ruled June 27 that the federal government can ban abusers from possessing guns.
The 6-2 ruling in Voisine v. U.S. upholds a federal law that prohibits any person convicted of a “misdemeanor crime of domestic violence” from owning a firearm.
The case was brought by two men convicted of misdemeanor assault under state law and later charged with federal crimes for possessing firearms. The plaintiffs, Stephen Voisine and William Armstrong, argued that their crimes did not count under federal statute because their crimes were reckless, not intentional or knowing.
The Court’s ruling that a reckless domestic assault counts as a domestic violence misdemeanor means that the federal law remains in place.
