Last month, tragedy struck Santa Clarita, Calif., as a 16-year-old student shot and killed several of his classmates at Saugus High School. While Congress debates how to most effectively combat mass shootings such as this, it should start by enacting legislation to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Rehaif v. United States—a decision that received little attention when it was issued this summer, but which dramatically undermines criminal laws designed to combat gun violence.
Background
In August 2013, Hamid Mohamed Ahmed Ali Rehaif, a citizen of the United Arab Emirates, entered the United States on an F-1 student visa to study engineering at Florida Institute of Technology. The visa allowed him to remain in the United States only if he was a full-time student.
