Caetano v. Massachusetts

• Citation: 194 L.Ed.2d 99,577 U.S. 411,136 S.Ct. 1027
• Decision Date: 21 March 2016
• Docket Number: No. 14–10078.,14–10078.
• Parties: Jaime CAETANO v. MASSACHUSETTS.
• Court: United States Supreme Court

577 U.S. 411
136 S.Ct. 1027
194 L.Ed.2d 99

Jaime CAETANO
v.
MASSACHUSETTS.

No. 14–10078.

Supreme Court of the United States

March 21, 2016.

136 S.Ct. 1027

PER CURIAM.

577 U.S. 411

The Court has held that "the Second Amendment extends, prima facie, to all instruments that constitute bearable arms, even those that were not in existence at the time of the founding," District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570, 582, 128 S.Ct. 2783, 171 L.Ed.2d 637 (2008), and that this "Second Amendment right is fully applicable to the States," McDonald v. Chicago, 561 U.S. 742, 750, 130 S.Ct. 3020, 177 L.Ed.2d 894 (2010). In this case, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts upheld a Massachusetts law prohibiting the possession of stun guns after examining "whether a stun gun is the type of weapon contemplated by Congress in 1789 as being protected by the Second Amendment." 470 Mass. 774, 777, 26 N.E.3d 688, 691 (2015).

The court offered three explanations to support its holding that the Second Amendment does not extend to stun guns. First, the court explained that stun guns are not protected because they "were not in common use at the time of the Second Amendment's enactment."

136 S.Ct. 1028

577 U.S. 412

Id., at 781, 26 N.E.3d, at 693. This is inconsistent with Heller 's clear statement that the Second Amendment "extends ... to ... arms ... that were not in existence at the time of the founding." 554 U.S., at 582, 128 S.Ct. 2783.

The court next asked whether stun guns are "dangerous per se at common law and unusual," 470 Mass., at 781, 26 N.E.3d, at 694, in an attempt to apply one "important limitation on the right to keep and carry arms," Heller, 554 U.S., at 627, 128 S.Ct. 2783 ; see ibid. (referring to "the historical tradition of prohibiting the carrying of ‘dangerous and unusual weapons' "). In so doing, the court concluded that stun guns are "unusual" because they are "a thoroughly modern invention." 470 Mass., at 781, 26 N.E.3d, at 693–694. By equating "unusual" with "in common use at the time of the Second Amendment's enactment," the court's second explanation is the same as the first; it is inconsistent with Heller for the same reason.

Finally, the court used "a contemporary lens" and found "nothing in the record to suggest that [stun guns] are readily adaptable to use in the military." 470 Mass., at 781, 26 N.E.3d, at 694. But Heller rejected the proposition "that only those weapons useful in warfare are protected." 554 U.S., at 624–625, 128 S.Ct. 2783.

For these three reasons, the explanation the Massachusetts court offered for upholding the law contradicts this Court's precedent. Consequently, the petition for a writ of certiorari and the motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis are granted. The judgment of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts is vacated, and the case is remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.

It is so ordered.

Justice ALITO, with whom Justice THOMAS joins, concurring in the judgment.

After a "bad altercation" with an abusive boyfriend put her in the hospital, Jaime Caetano found herself homeless

577 U.S. 413

and "in fear for [her] life." Tr. 31, 38 (July 10, 2013). She obtained multiple restraining orders against her abuser, but they proved futile. So when a friend offered her a stun gun "for self-defense against [her] former boy friend," 470 Mass. 774, 776, 26 N.E.3d 688, 690 (2015), Caetano accepted the weapon.

It is a good thing she did. One night after leaving work, Caetano found her ex-boyfriend "waiting for [her] outside." Tr. 35. He "started screaming" that she was "not gonna [expletive deleted] work at this place" any more because she "should be home with the kids" they had together. Ibid. Caetano's abuser towered over her by nearly a foot and outweighed her by close to 100 pounds. But she didn't need physical strength to protect herself. She stood her ground, displayed the stun gun, and announced: "I'm not gonna take this anymore.... I don't wanna have to [use the stun gun on] you, but if you don't leave me alone, I'm gonna have to." Id., at 35–36. The gambit worked. The ex-boyfriend "got scared and he left [her] alone." Id., at 36.

It is settled that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms that applies against both the Federal Government and the States. District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570, 128 S.Ct. 2783, 171 L.Ed.2d 637 (2008) ; McDonald v. Chicago, 561 U.S. 742, 130 S.Ct. 3020, 177 L.Ed.2d 894 (2010). That right vindicates the "basic right" of "individual self-defense." Id., at 767, 130 S.Ct. 3020 ; see Heller, supra, at 599, 628, 128 S.Ct. 2783. Caetano's encounter with her violent ex-boyfriend illustrates the connection

136 S.Ct. 1029

between those fundamental rights: By arming herself, Caetano was able to protect against a physical threat that restraining orders had proved useless to prevent. And, commendably, she did so by using a weapon that posed little, if any, danger of permanently harming either herself or the father of her children.

Under Massachusetts law, however, Caetano's mere possession of the stun gun that may have saved her life made her a criminal. See Mass. Gen. Laws, ch. 140, § 131J (2014). When police later discovered the weapon, she was arrested,

577 U.S. 414

tried, and convicted. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the conviction, holding that a stun gun "is not the type of weapon that is eligible for Second Amendment protection" because it was "not in common use at the time of [the Second Amendment's] enactment." 470 Mass., at 781, 26 N.E.3d, at 693.

This reasoning defies our decision in Heller, which rejected as "bordering on the frivolous" the argument "that only those arms in existence in the 18th century are protected by the Second Amendment." 554 U.S., at 582, 128 S.Ct. 2783. The decision below also does a grave disservice to vulnerable individuals like Caetano who must defend themselves because the State will not.

I

The events leading to Caetano's prosecution occurred sometime after the confrontation between her and her ex-boyfriend. In September 2011, police officers responded to a reported shoplifting at an Ashland, Massachusetts, supermarket. The store's manager had detained a suspect, but he identified Caetano and another person in the parking lot as potential accomplices. Police approached the two and obtained Caetano's consent to search her purse. They found no evidence of shoplifting, but saw Caetano's stun gun. Caetano explained to the officers that she had acquired the weapon to defend herself against a violent ex-boyfriend.

The officers believed Caetano, but they arrested her for violating Mass. Gen. Laws, ch. 140, § 131J, "which bans entirely the possession of an electrical weapon," 470 Mass., at 775, 26 N.E.3d, at 689.¹ When Caetano moved to dismiss

577 U.S. 415

the charge on Second Amendment grounds, the trial court denied the motion.

A subsequent bench trial established the following undisputed facts. The parties stipulated that Caetano possessed the stun gun and that the weapon fell within the statute's prohibition.² The Commonwealth also did not challenge Caetano's testimony

136 S.Ct. 1030

that she possessed the weapon to defend herself against the violent ex-boyfriend. Indeed, the prosecutor urged the court "to believe the defendant." Tr. 40. The trial court nonetheless found Caetano guilty, and she appealed to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

The Supreme Judicial Court rejected Caetano's Second Amendment claim, holding that "a stun gun is not the type of weapon that is eligible for Second Amendment protection." 470 Mass., at 775, 26 N.E.3d, at 689. The court reasoned that stun guns are unprotected because they were "not ‘in common use at the time’ of enactment of the Second Amendment," id., at 781, 26 N.E.3d, at 693 (quoting Heller, supra, at 627, 128 S.Ct. 2783 ), and because they fall within the "traditional prohibition against carrying dangerous and unusual weapons," 470 Mass., at 779, 26 N.E.3d, at 692 (citing Heller, supra, at 627, 128 S.Ct. 2783 ).

II

Although the Supreme Judicial Court professed to apply Heller, each step of its analysis defied Heller 's reasoning.

577 U.S. 416

A

The state court repeatedly framed the question before it as whether a particular weapon was " ‘in common use at the time’ of enactment of the Second Amendment." 470 Mass., at 781, 26 N.E.3d, at 693 ; see also id., at 779, 780, 781, 26 N.E.3d, at 692, 693, 694. In Heller, we emphatically rejected such a formulation. We found the argument "that only those arms in existence in the 18th century are protected by the Second Amendment" not merely wrong, but "bordering on the...