Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/22-915_8o6b.pdf
Page Number: 9.0

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

5 

Opinion of the Court 

In  light  of  Bruen,  the  panel  withdrew  the  prior  opinion 
and ordered additional briefing.  A new panel then heard 
oral argument and reversed.  61 F. 4th 443, 448 (CA5 2023). 
Surveying  the  evidence  that  the  Government  had  identi-
fied, the panel concluded that Section 922(g)(8) does not fit
within our tradition of firearm regulation.  Id., at 460–461. 
Judge  Ho  wrote  separately  to  express  his  view  that  the 
panel’s ruling did not conflict with the interest in protecting
people from violent individuals.  Id., at 461–462 (concurring 
opinion).

We granted certiorari. 600 U. S. ___ (2023) 

II 
When a restraining order contains a finding that an indi-
vidual poses a credible threat to the physical safety of an 
intimate partner, that individual may—consistent with the 
Second Amendment—be banned from possessing firearms 
while the order is in effect.  Since the founding, our Nation’s 
firearm laws have included provisions preventing individu-
als  who  threaten  physical  harm  to  others  from  misusing
firearms.  As  applied  to  the  facts  of  this  case,  Section 
922(g)(8) fits comfortably within this tradition. 

A 
We  have  held  that  the  right  to  keep  and  bear  arms  is
among the “fundamental rights necessary to our system of
ordered liberty.”  McDonald v. Chicago, 561 U. S. 742, 778 
(2010).  Derived from English practice and codified in the 
Second  Amendment,  the  right  secures  for  Americans  a
means of self-defense.  Bruen, 597 U. S., at 17.  The spark
that ignited the American Revolution was struck at Lexing-
ton and Concord, when the British governor dispatched sol-
diers to seize the local farmers’ arms and powder stores.  In 
the aftermath of the Civil War, Congress’s desire to enable
the newly freed slaves to defend themselves against former 
Confederates helped inspire the passage of the Fourteenth