Title

Why Give Violent Domestic Abusers a Gun? How the Supreme Court’s Definition of Violence Today Will Affect the Number of Gun Injuries Tomorrow.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-15-2014

Abstract

The Supreme Court is poised to decide whether those people frequently responsible for killing police, committing mass murders, and shooting their partners should have greater access to firearms. Today, the court heard arguments in U.S. v. Castleman, a challenge to a provision of the federal law that bans anyone who’s been convicted of a domestic violence misdemeanor involving force from possessing a firearm. If the court agrees to narrow the definition of what “force” means, more people will be shot by their partners, more law enforcement personnel will be hurt, and we may be less likely to stop future mass killings.

The Supreme Court is poised to decide whether those people frequently responsible for killing police, committing mass murders, and shooting their partners should have greater access to firearms. Today, the court heard arguments in U.S. v. Castleman, a challenge to a provision of the federal law that bans anyone who’s been convicted of a domestic violence misdemeanor involving force from possessing a firearm. If the court agrees to narrow the definition of what “force” means, more people will be shot by their partners, more law enforcement personnel will be hurt, and we may be less likely to stop future mass killings.

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