Supreme Court deciding on reach of federal gun ban

The Supreme Court is debating whether a federal gun ban on those with misdemeanor domestic violence records can be applied in states where the law doesn't say physical force must have been used in such a case.

Justices heard from government officials who want the ban to apply to James Castleman. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor domestic assault in 2001 in Tennessee. He was then charged in 2009 with illegal possession of a firearm.

Federal law bars a person convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence involving physical force or a deadly weapon from possessing a firearm.  A federal judge threw the gun charges out because the Tennessee law doesn't require that physical force must have been used in misdemeanor domestic assault. Justices will now decide whether the ban applies, and will rule later this year.