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We the People

Domestic Violence Laws and Gun Rights

We the People

National Constitution Center

News, News Commentary, History

4.61.1K Ratings

🗓️ 17 March 2023

⏱️ 51 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Earlier this month, in United States v. Rahimi, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit struck down as unconstitutional a decades-old law barring people subject to domestic violence restraining orders from possessing firearms. The ruling comes on the heels of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen last term, which held that the Second Amendment protects the right to carry guns outside the home. Bruen also created a new history-and-tradition test for determining whether gun-control regulations are constitutional, which has led some lower courts to now rule differently on challenges to gun laws—including the Fifth Circuit. In this episode, two scholars and experts on the Second Amendment— Amy Swearer of the Heritage Foundation and Adam Winkler of UCLA School of Law—join to break down the Rahimi decision, which the U.S. Supreme Court may review in a future term, and explore the new landscape of Second Amendment law after Bruen. Host Jeffrey Rosen moderates.   Resources   United States v. Rahimi (5th Cir. 2023) NY State Rifle and Pistol Assoc. v. Bruen (2022) “Senate hears about legal fallout from Supreme Court gun decision,” RollCall (Mar. 2023) “The Essential Second Amendment,” Heritage Foundation ebook  Adam Winkler, Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America (2013)  Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.    Continue today’s conversation on Facebook and Twitter using @ConstitutionCtr.    Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate, at bit.ly/constitutionweekly.    You can find transcripts for each episode on the podcast pages in our Media Library.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Earlier this month in a case called United States versus Rahimi, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit struck down as unconstitutional a 30 year old law barring people subject to domestic violence restraining orders from possessing firearms.

0:14.6

The ruling comes on the heels of the US Supreme Court's decision in New York State Rifle

0:19.4

and Pistol Association versus Bruin.

0:22.2

That was a decision last term term which held that the Second Amendment

0:24.5

protects the right to carry guns outside the home. Bruin also created a new history and

0:29.3

tradition test for determining whether gun control regulations are constitutional,

0:33.7

which has led some lower courts to rule differently

0:36.5

on challenges to gun laws.

0:38.8

Hello friends, I'm Jeffrey Rosen president and CEO of the National

0:45.4

Constitution Center and welcome to We The People, a weekly show of

0:48.8

constitutional debate. The National Constitution Center is a nonpartisan nonprofit chartered by Congress to increase awareness and understanding of the Constitution among the American people.

1:00.0

In this episode, we break down the Rahimi decision and explore the new landscape of the Second Amendment after Bruin.

1:07.0

We're joined by two leading scholars of the Second Amendment.

1:10.0

Amy Swarer is Senior Fellow in the Edwin Meese

1:12.8

the Third Center for Legal and Judicial Studies

1:14.8

at the Heritage Foundation.

1:16.3

She was a primary author of the recently published

1:18.6

Heritage Book, The Essential Second Amendment.

1:21.9

Amy, it is wonderful to welcome you to We The People.

1:24.5

Jeff, thank you so much for having me.

1:26.1

I'm really grateful to be here.

1:28.5

And Adam Winkler is the Kamelow Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law.

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