The Supreme Court is reviewing whether regular marijauan users can legally own a firearm.
The Supreme Court is weighing whether regular marijuana users can legally own firearms, a decision that could put millions of Americans at risk of breaking the law.
After a lower court largely struck down the law barring anyone who uses illegal drugs from owning firearms, the Justice Department appealed. Although the Republican administration usually supports Second Amendment rights, it argues that this restriction is justified, claiming that regular drug users pose a serious public safety risk.
“And for about as long as legislatures have regulated drugs, they have prohibited the possession of arms by drug users and addicts – not just by persons under the influence of drugs,” the DOJ said in its appeal.
The FBI had been monitoring Hemani over alleged ties to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, labeled a global terrorist group, court filings state. Authorities also claim Hemani used and sold promethazine and used cocaine, though his prosecution centers on marijuana use. Hemani’s lawyers argue the government is attempting to “inflame and disparage” his character, emphasizing that he was not under the influence when the FBI discovered a Glock 19 in his Lewisville, Texas, home.
Hemani was charged under federal law prohibiting firearm possession by anyone who “is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance.”
The DOJ’s appeal argues that since the federal background-check system for firearms was established in 1998, the restriction on drug users has blocked more gun sales than any rule except the ban on felons and fugitives, and it is cited in hundreds of prosecutions annually.
Hemani’s attorneys claim the government’s interpretation of the law is illogical, noting that roughly 19% of Americans use marijuana and about 32% own firearms, meaning millions could technically be breaking the law and face up to 15 years in prison. Hemani’s lawyers cite the Supreme Court’s past decisions and “common sense” to rule that “history and tradition only support a ban on carrying firearms while intoxicated.”
In addition to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, two other appellate courts have limited the federal ban, ruling that defendants’ drug use should be individually assessed before restricting their rights. The Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments in Hemani’s case next year, with a decision anticipated by the end of June.
Source: Black Enterprise
