In the second major decision on constitutional gun rights this month, the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld a firearms ban for violent domestic abusers.
Justice Clarence Thomas was the lone dissenter.
"Our tradition of firearm regulation allows the government to disarm individuals who present a credible threat to the physical safety of others," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the decision in United States v. Rahimi.
The case centered on a 1994 federal law barring gun ownership for those who have been targeted in domestic violence restraining orders, and involved Texas resident Zackey Rahimi, who was convicted of violating the law following a series of shootings.
The defense argued that the law violated Second Amendment gun rights, and that the nation's founding generation never responded to domestic violation by banning gun possession.
The challenge to the domectic abusers gun ban was one of a number launched against federal firearms restrictions since the conservative majority strengthened gun rights two years ago in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. That decision called for historical arguments when defending laws restricting firearms.
Justice Thomas wrote that the court and government failed to "point to a single historical law revoking a citizen's Second Amendment right based on possible interpersonal violence."
He warned that in the "interest of ensuring the Government can regulate one subset of society, today's decision puts at risk the Second Amendment rights of many more."
The court last week struck down a ban on gun bump stocks, which enables vastly increased rapid firing.
