Watch: US Supreme Court considers reversing gun ban for domestic abusers

Watch as the US Supreme Court considers reversing a gun ban for domestic abusers on Tuesday (7 November)

The court is set to weigh the legality of a federal law that makes it a crime for people under domestic violence restraining orders to have guns in the latest major case to test the willingness of its conservative majority to further expand gun rights.

Oral arguments are scheduled in an appeal by President Joe Biden's administration of a lower court's ruling striking down the law - intended to protect victims of domestic abuse - as a violation of the US Constitution's Second Amendment right to "keep and bear arms."

The New Orleans-based 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that the measure failed a stringent test set by the Supreme Court in a 2022 ruling that required gun laws to be “consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation” in order to survive a Second Amendment challenge.

Advocacy groups for victims of domestic violence have warned of the grave danger posed by armed abusers, citing studies that show that the presence of guns increases the chances that an abused intimate partner will die.