Editorial: Get guns out of domestic abusers’ hands

Tribune Content Agency

Rising temperatures and summertime often mean fun family vacations.

But advocates for domestic violence victims see a darker side to these sunny times — a sad rise in the number of calls to their hotlines. With more people spending more time under the same roof, family violence cases typically spike in the summer.

The forecast this year is even grimmer in light of a dumbfounding federal appeals court ruling in February allowing guns to remain in the hands of those under protective orders.

The U.S. Justice Department in March asked the the Supreme Court to overturn that ruling. It’s been joined in recent weeks by dozens of law enforcement agencies, public health experts and advocates for gun and domestic violence victims who have filed impassioned amicus briefs. We support these efforts and urge the Supreme Court to restore the longstanding, commonsense restriction.

The case at the center of the appellate fight involves a Kennedale man who was under a protective order obtained by his ex-girlfriend forbidding him from possessing guns. The man was sentenced to more than six years in prison, but he appealed the protective order, saying preventing his gun possession was unconstitutional.

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals originally ruled against him. But the Supreme Court ruled in June that the government must justify gun control laws by showing they are “consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.” The New Orleans court subsequently withdrew its earlier decision.

For now the 5th Circuit’s ruling hasn’t affected protective orders issued in local state court, said Jerry Varney, the Dallas County assistant district attorney who oversees the family violence division. But that could change if the high court upholds the decision and state laws come under challenge.

Meanwhile, Mimi Sterling, executive director of The Family Place, says the 5th Circuit’s decision was “not only a step in the wrong direction but also has stripped organizations like [ours] and our agency partners from lifesaving legal protections of those we serve.”

We support the constitutional right to possess guns. But not for everyone and in every case, and that includes anyone violent enough to be bound to a protective order.

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