Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/22-915_8o6b.pdf
Page Number: 84

Cite as:  602 U. S. ____ (2024) 

13 

THOMAS, J., dissenting 

the law against carrying concealed weapons”).  Sources that 
do  discuss  disarmament  generally  describe  nonpeaceable 
citizens  as  those  who  threaten  the  public  or  government.
For example, the Government quotes a Union General’s or-
der that “all loyal and peaceable citizens in Missouri will be
permitted to bear arms.”  Headquarters, Dept. of the Mis-
souri, General Orders, No. 86 (Aug. 25, 1863), in The War 
of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the 
Union and Confederate Armies, Ser. 1, Vol. 22, Pt. 2, p. 475
(1888).  Yet, the Government fails to mention that the Un-
ion General’s order addresses the “[l]arge numbers of men 
. . .  leaving  the  broken  rebel  armies  . . .  and  returning  to 
Missouri . . . with the purpose of following a career of plun-
der and murder.”  Id., at 474.  The order provided that “all
those  who  voluntarily  abandon[ed]  the  rebel  cause”  could 
return  to  Missouri,  but  only  if  they  “surrender[ed]  them-
selves  and  their  arms,”  “[took]  the  oath  of  allegiance  and 
[gave] bond for their future good conduct.”  Ibid.  By con-
trast,  “all  loyal  and  peaceable  citizens  in  Missouri  w[ere]
permitted  to  bear  arms”  to  “protect  themselves  from  vio-
lence”  and  “aid  the  troops.”    Id.,  at  475.  Thus,  the  term 
“loyal and peaceable” distinguished between the former re-
bels residing in Missouri who were disarmed to prevent re-
bellion  and  those  citizens  who  would  help  fight  against 
them. 

The  Government’s  smorgasbord  of  commentary  proves
little of relevance, and it certainly does not establish a “his-
torical tradition that delimits the outer bounds of the right
to keep and bear arms.”  Bruen, 597 U. S., at 19. 

iii 

The  Government’s  remaining  evidence  is  even  further 
afield.  The Government points to an assortment of firearm
regulations, covering everything from storage practices  to 
treason and mental illness.  They are all irrelevant for pur-
poses  of  §922(g)(8).    Again,  the  “central  considerations”