Zackey Rahimi, the Texas criminal defendant challenging a federal gun law before the Supreme Court on Tuesday, said this summer that he no longer wanted to own firearms and expressed remorse for his actions that got him in trouble with the law.
“I will make sure for sure this time that when I finish my time being incarcerated to stay the faithful, righteous person I am this day, to stay away from all drugs at all times, do probation & parole rightfully, to go to school & have a great career, have a great manufacturing engineering job, to never break any law again, to stay away from the wrong circle, to stay away from all firearms & weapons, & to never be away from my family again,” Rahimi, who is being held at a Fort Worth jail, said in a handwritten letter dated July 25.
He continued: “I had firearms for the right reason in our place to be able to protect my family at all times especially for what we’ve went through in the past but I’ll make sure to do whatever it takes to be able to do everything the right pathway & to be able to come home fast as I can to take care of my family at all times.”
It doesn’t matter. If the SC upholds the law (which is unlikely) the gun lobby will simply find someone more acceptable, and under slightly different circumstances, and bring up another challenge. They’ll keep going after gun laws the way the anti-choice side relentlessly attacked Roe.
Because the 2nd Amendment is clear and any gun law is an infringement of the right.
Even gun loving conservative scholars agree that the 2nd amendment is a barely coherent grammatically tenuous mess. It’s notoriously unclear.
But for my part, I don’t see how any sane person reads “A well regulated Militia” and concludes that all regulation is prohibited.
That’s the justification, not the right. The right is to bear arms. The militia is everyone able-bodied in the US.
By justification, you mean the spirit of the law right?
By justification I mean the reason for the right. The right being the right to bear arms.
That sounds like well regulated militia is the spirit of the law. The reason for it, the intention, however you want to word it.
The right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.
Important parts in bold.
any gun law is an infringement of the right.
Ok, boomer
Shall not be infringed.
So you can buy any weapon in any manner of firing, including full auto or are there laws in place to prevent this?
You should be able to but there are infringements in place like the originally excessively expensive $200 tax stamp for fully automatic weapons.
So they can be infringed?
The second amendment is not clear and has been given the broadest possible interpretation. Are you a member of a well-regulated militia?
Not well regulated but yes I am part of the militia. Well regulated means well supplied. The militia is everyone able-bodied in the US.
Well regulated means well supplied. The militia is everyone able-bodied in the US.
No it doesnt
Yes. It. Does. Just because the common definition for militia changed doesn’t mean that the meaning of the writing with the definition of the time is different because you want it to be.
It wasnt the definition of the time either. It has always meant what it means today.
Even if that were true, it doesn’t matter because the militia is not the right. The right is the right of the people to keep and bear arms.
I mean, this particular gun law violates the 14A, so it’s good for all of us if 2A supporters go after it.
How is putting guns in the hands of known abusers a good thing to do? Why is that person’s right to a gun more important to the lives of those around him?
The basis of this appeal is the question of whether a civil protective order can be tantamount to conviction for purposes of depriving enumerated Constitutional rights.
It is rote accepted practice in many divorce filings to file a restraining order as a preemptive measure even if the person being filed against poses no credible or historical threat of violence.
I think it makes sense to make someone a prohibited person for certain violent convictions but I’m more skeptical of civil filings that are often spurious or without evidentiary basis.
known abusers
Incorrect. For that to be correct, there would have to be a standard of proof. The correct term here is accused abusers.
Semantics are easy when you’re sacrificing other people’s lives.
It’s bizarre you think yourself a hero as you openly advocate putting the property of abusers over the safety of those they abuse, like temporarily losing access to firearms is a bigger tragedy than being executed by a former partner.
Are we supposed to politely ignore how that makes you look? People who hit their wives also post on social media and it shouldn’t come as a shock to people that they also tend see themselves the victim and right about everything.
You’re a big brave boy, you can handle a few months away from your beloved guns.
Burden of proof that a gun owner respects human life is on them. I’d like another amendment please.
It’s pretty clear that you don’t actually have any ideas here and are just like a barking dog.
So you engage in sophistry to avoid an actual argument. That didn’t fly in Ancient Greece and won’t fly here.
Of course he will say all that while incarcerated and trying to get out on good behavior.
Gonna be real hard to accomplish all that with a federal felony firearms conviction on your record. Not to mention being involved in five separate shootings in a three-month period.
And he is NOT dropping the suit for what, “exactly”?
Whoever paid for his lawyers won’t let him.
The Constitution is definitely clear. Due Process of Law is required to deprive a citizen of their Constitutional rights.
Do Civil proceedings pass the bar of “Due Process”? This is what the SCOTUS must decide.
Personally I don’t think they are sufficient enough Due Process alone. I do however suspect that if criminal charges are filed and one is convicted of violence, a Civil court judge may still be within their rights to suspend the rights of the accused to own a firearm temporarily to protect someone.
Rahimi was issued a restraining order in 2020 after a violent altercation with his girlfriend in Arlington, Texas. A court found that he had “committed family violence” and that it was likely to occur again.
So this man was already convicted of gun violence once by a criminal court.
When the police ultimately obtained a search warrant for his home, they found a rifle and a pistol, and Rahimi admitted that he was subject to the protective order that had been entered in the civil proceeding.
The evidence shows he’s been sanctioned by a protective order.
A federal grand jury indicted him, and Rahimi moved to dismiss the indictment, arguing that the law was unconstitutional. He lost his court effort, but then the Supreme Court issued the landmark Second Amendment decision.
He’s been indicted on criminal charges. Yep. I think this guy in particular probably did not have his Constitutional rights to own a gun intact.
Rahimi, who is challenging his conviction under a federal law that bars individuals subject to domestic violence restraining orders from possessing a firearm, is being held at the jail under separate charges stemming from a series of gun-related incidents.
Ah yeah. This. He definitely should not be allowed to own a gun if convicted under these separate charges.
Relatedly, I also see there’s a federal law on the books. Hmm. This sounds like the people already believe this civil proceeding is Due Process!
