Senate hears about legal fallout from court’s gun ruling

WASHINGTON — Last year’s Supreme Court case that expanded Second Amendment rights has wreaked havoc on the nation’s gun control laws, witnesses told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.

The hearing also showed sharp partisan divides over further steps to address gun violence.

Democrats at the hearing praised President Joe Biden’s latest order on background checks and called for further restrictions, while Republicans criticized “soft-on-crime” policies they say drive gun crimes.

Since the decision came down in June, more than a half-dozen courts have tossed gun restrictions such as requirements that firearms have serial numbers and bans on possessing firearms in mass transit.

An appeals court in February struck down a federal prohibition on gun possession for people subject to domestic violence restraining orders.

Those rulings relied on the Supreme Court’s focus in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen, which laid out a legal test of sorts for gun regulations that looks to the history and tradition of the Second Amendment.

Eric Ruben, a law professor at Southern Methodist University, said the Bruen decision means judges can now pick and choose what historical gun laws are analogous to modern restrictions — which has “enabled judicial subjectivity and unpredictability” about gun restrictions.

Republicans argued that an increase in violent crime has come from “progressive prosecutors,” and local policies to reduce the prison population and change bail laws.