BRACE FOR IMPACT: CASTLEMAN, BRUEN, RAHIMI, AND THE COLLISION COURSE OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND GUN VIOLENCE JURISPRUDENCE

Authors

• Gill, Colleen

Abstract

In June 2022, the Supreme Court articulated a new standard of judicial review for Second Amendment cases in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen. Though the Court claimed that Bruen’s “history and tradition” standard was consistent with previous Second Amendment analyses, lower courts struggled to apply it. Two years later, the Court revisited Bruen for the first time in United States v. Rahimi. However, Rahimi came with a unique set of facts – at its core, it was a case about domestic violence restraining orders.

This Note uses Rahimi to showcase the limits of the history and tradition standard. Further, it discusses the implications of using domestic violence, a legal term of art, as the basis for analyzing violence overall. Then it explores how the unique history of domestic violence legislation and jurisprudence makes the issue inequitable under a history and tradition test, and how other complex areas of law face the same challenges.

Based on this analysis, this Note provides both legislative and judicial actions that could shore up the issues caused by Bruen and Rahimi, as well as ways that the precedent can be used to increase protections for victims of gun violence.

Recommended Citation

Gill, Colleen, Case Note, BRACE FOR IMPACT: CASTLEMAN, BRUEN, RAHIMI, AND THE COLLISION COURSE OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND GUN VIOLENCE JURISPRUDENCE, 66 Santa Clara L. Rev. 304 (2026).
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.scu.edu/lawreview/vol66/iss2/5