WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court on Monday declined to loosen restrictions that prevent individuals convicted of misdemeanor counts of domestic violence from owning a gun. 
 
 The court, in a 6-2 ruling, was unpersuaded by arguments from two Maine men who said their past convictions weren’t the type that should subject them to a federal ban on firearm possession. 
 
 One... ||||| WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is upholding the broad reach of a federal law that bans people convicted of domestic violence from owning guns. 
 
 The justices on Monday rejected arguments that the law covers only intentional acts of abuse and not those committed in the heat of an argument. 
 
 The case involved two Maine men who said their guilty pleas for hitting their partners should not disqualify them from gun ownership. 
 
 The dispute drew interest from advocates for victims of domestic abuse who say the law applies to reckless behavior as well as intentional misconduct. 
 
 Gun rights groups argued that the men should not lose their constitutional right to bear arms because of misdemeanor abuse convictions. 
 
 A federal appeals court ruled against the men.
– Clarence Thomas broke a decade of silence when the case was being heard, and now, a ruling: The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that even those convicted of reckless, rather than intentional, domestic abuse can be denied gun-ownership rights under a federal ban. The case involved two Maine men who said their guilty pleas for hitting their partners (which led to misdemeanor abuse convictions, per the AP) should not disqualify them from owning a gun. In a 6-2 opinion by Elena Kagan, the justices rejected their claims. The Wall Street Journal reports that the case's notoriety ratcheted up after Thomas' questions, and he issued what USA Today calls a "blistering dissent" (he was joined by Sonia Sotomayor). It reads in part: "In construing the statute before us expansively so that causing a single minor reckless injury or offensive touching can lead someone to lose his right to bear arms forever, the court continues to relegate the Second Amendment to a second-class right."