The Supreme Court is going to hear a case involving the right of a domestic abuser to own a gun during the next term. Since the party in question is unsympathetic, there is speculation that the Court plans to retreat a bit from last year’s decision to rely solely on analogies to gun regulations as they existed in the 18th and 19th centuries. My guess is that the speculation is correct, which would be welcome.
Two things are for certain. First, there were no analogous gun owning restrictions in previous centuries that control the new case, because there was little regulation of domestic violence. Second, Justice Thomas is not going to back down. He believes in his ridiculous approach, and he won’t depart from it regardless of the facts.
I don’t believe the Second Amendment is a personal right. If it is, however, it should be subject to the same kind of limitations as the First Amendment. Since a variety of kinds of speech that represent a danger to the public are not protected by the First Amendment, the same considerations should be applied to gun ownership.