Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/22-915_8o6b.pdf
Page Number: 76.0

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

5 

THOMAS, J., dissenting 

The  Court  employed  this  “straightforward”  analysis  in 
Heller and Bruen.  Heller considered the District of Colum-
bia’s “flat ban on the possession of handguns in the home,” 
Bruen, 597 U. S., at 27, and Bruen considered New York’s 
effective ban on carrying a firearm in public, see id., at 11– 
13.  The  Court  determined  that  the  District  of  Columbia 
and  New  York  had  “addressed  a  perceived  societal  prob-
lem—firearm violence in densely populated communities—
and  [they]  employed  a  regulation  . . .  that  the  Founders 
themselves could have adopted to confront that problem.” 
Id., at 27.  Accordingly, the Court “consider[ed] ‘founding-
era historical precedent’ ” and looked for a comparable reg-
ulation.  Ibid. (quoting Heller, 554 U. S., at 631).  In both 
cases,  the  Court  found  no  such  law  and  held  the  modern 
regulations unconstitutional.  Id., at 631; Bruen, 597 U. S., 
at 27. 

Under  our  precedent,  then,  we  must  resolve  two  ques-
tions to determine if §922(g)(8) violates the Second Amend-
ment:  (1) Does  §922(g)(8)  target  conduct  protected  by  the 
Second  Amendment’s  plain  text;  and  (2) does  the  Govern-
ment  establish  that  §922(g)(8)  is  consistent  with  the  Na-
tion’s historical tradition of firearm regulation? 

III 

Section 922(g)(8) violates the Second Amendment.  First, 
it targets conduct at the core of the Second Amendment—
possessing firearms.  Second, the Government failed to pro-
duce any evidence that §922(g)(8) is consistent with the Na-
tion’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.  To the con-
trary, the founding generation addressed the same societal 
problem  as  §922(g)(8)  through  the  “materially  different 
means” of surety laws.  Id., at 26. 

A 
It  is  undisputed  that  §922(g)(8)  targets  conduct  encom-
passed  by  the  Second  Amendment’s  plain  text.  After  all,