Domestic violence advocates applaud a law passed in 1996, known as the Lautenberg Amendment, that is designed to protect victims of domestic violence from armed abusers. The Lautenberg Amendment prohibits anyone convicted of a domestic violence misdemeanor from owning or possessing a handgun. Weapons are used in 30 percent of domestic violence incidents; with such a high portion of abusers being armed, Rosemary Dempsey, vice president of the National Organization for Women, asks, “How can we accept any . . . law that would allow abusers to have guns"”

Opponents of the amendment contend, however, that the law is unjust, and they have filed lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the law. They cite other gun-control laws still in effect that permit members of the police and military who have been convicted of felony domestic violence charges to keep their weapons under an &ldquo...