NEW YORK – Everytown Law, the nation’s largest team of gun violence prevention litigators, and Moms Demand Action released the following statements in response to the decision of a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in United States v. Rahimi, which struck down the federal law that prohibits individuals who are subject to domestic violence restraining orders from possessing firearms.
“This extreme and dangerous ruling is a death sentence for women and families as domestic violence is far too often a precursor to gun violence,” said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action. “When someone is able to secure a restraining order, we must do everything possible to keep them and their families safe — not empower the abuser with easy access to firearms. This ruling cannot stand and must quickly be overturned.”
“The Fifth Circuit panel’s decision is wrong and endangers lives,” said Janet Carter, senior director of issues and appeals at Everytown Law. “Prohibiting dangerous people from accessing deadly weapons—including those who have abused their partners or children—is absolutely consistent with the Second Amendment. If the full Fifth Circuit doesn’t reverse this misguided decision, the Supreme Court should do so.”
Gun-related intimate partner violence is a devastating and lethal crisis facing women and families in the United States. Every month, an average of 70 women are shot and killed by an intimate partner. In addition, intimate partner mass shootings are not uncommon, though many don’t make headlines. An Everytown analysis of mass shooting incidents—in which four or more people are shot and killed, not including the shooter—in the United States from 2009 to 2020 revealed that in at least 53 percent of these shootings, the perpetrator shot a current or former intimate partner or family member.
