Stephen Gutowski of the Washington Free Beacon highlights the U.S. Supreme Court’s next opportunity to address gun-rights issues.
In 2013, Lori Rodriguez called San Jose police to her home because her husband was having a mental health crisis and making violent threats. Seven years later, she is petitioning the Supreme Court to force the city to return her guns.
“It’s not right. I shouldn’t have to do this to get back what’s mine,” Rodriguez told the Washington Free Beacon. “They violated several of my constitutional rights.”
Rodriguez claims police ordered her to open the couple’s gun safe so they could seize all of the weapons in the home after her husband was detained for making threats that the city says included “shooting up schools.” Cops seized not only her husband’s weapons but also the guns that were personally registered to Rodriguez. The city has repeatedly rebuffed her requests to return her property.
The suit is now the sole case with Second Amendment implications remaining before the Court after the justices rejected 10 other gun-rights cases on June 15. Rodriguez’s legal challenge comes as the federal government and a number of states debate “red flag” bills that would allow authorities to deny gun rights to citizens. It has the potential to clarify the extent to which the Second Amendment protects individuals from seizures of firearms. …
… The Supreme Court has been hesitant to take up gun-rights cases in recent years. It has ruled on only one Second Amendment case since 2011. Justices Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh recently rebuked their colleagues for refusing to accept lawsuits tackling gun-rights issues. On June 15, Thomas published a blistering dissent about the Court’s handling of the cases.
“This Court would almost certainly review the constitutionality of a law requiring citizens to establish a justifiable need before exercising their free speech rights,” Thomas wrote.