When the challenged regulation addresses a “general societal problem
that has persisted since the 18th century, the lack of a distinctly similar
historical regulation addressing that problem is relevant evidence that the
challenged regulation is inconsistent with the Second Amendment.” Moreover, “if earlier generations addressed the societal problem, but did so through materially different means, that also could be evidence that a modern regulation is unconstitutional.” Id.
IANAL, but this read as “Spousal abuse wasn’t considered a crime back then like it is now, and since they didn’t take away someone’s gun for beating the shit out of their wife, we cannot either.”
His family did what they could to help. In one incident, Derksen [Jones’ uncle] said Jones demanded his gun back, and Derksen called the police. I said, ‘Hey my nephew is schizophrenic. He’s demanding his firearm; I’m not giving it back to him.’ They came here, and by law, they were required to actually give him back his firearm.”
