GVPanorama: Originalism Is One Reason Why America Has Such a Gun Problem
One of the worst “originalist” decisions was about guns, back in 2008. This term, it might get even worse.
While on the search for recent gun violence prevention news for our weekly "Friday Finds” feature, we often come across editorials, personal stories, or wider-lens articles that don’t necessarily fit into a “current events” window. With “GVPanorama” we will highlight some of these thought-provoking pieces.
As part of their How Originalism Ate the Law series from earlier this year, Slate digs into the curiously unrealistic reasoning of the recent Supreme Court that has impeded any movement on gun legislation, and threatens to create further damage.
“Since 2008, the court has radically departed from centuries of case law on gun regulations and the Second Amendment, making it astoundingly difficult for lawmakers to implement even the most basic and commonsense of gun laws.”
The series is particularly relevant, as it states that “By the end of June, the U.S. Supreme Court will issue its decision in United States v. Rahimi, a case in which a man subject to a domestic violence restraining order says he has a constitutional right to keep his gun and that a federal law disarming abusers violates the Second Amendment. The court will also decide Garland v. Cargill, a challenge to a law classifying semiautomatic weapons equipped with bump stocks as machine guns because they enable automatic fire.”
*** UPDATE: On Friday, June 21, the SCOTUS upheld U.S. v. Rahimi.***
Check out the full article and adjoining podcast here.
For further details about U.S. v. Rahimi, check out Armed With Reason’s recent series on that impending case — written by Caroline Light, Director of Undergraduate Studies in Harvard’s Program in Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality — below: