Ali Hemani, a dual U.S.-Pakistani citizen, was being monitored by the FBI at the time of his arrest for suspected ties to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards paramilitary group.
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WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court ruled June 18 that a Texas man’s habitual use of marijuana is not sufficient reason to criminally charge him with gun possession. The ruling weakens a federal law designed to keep firearms out of the hands of dangerous people, while undermining the Second Amendment, which strengthens gun owners’ right to bear arms.
The Gun Control Act of 1968 makes it a felony for an “unlawful user or addict of a controlled substance” to possess a firearm.
The Justice Department defended the restrictions even as the Trump administration seeks to expand gun rights and reclassify marijuana into a less dangerous drug category. In the majority of states, cannabis is legal in some form.
But the government argued that banning regular cannabis smokers from owning guns was permissible under the constitution because the restrictions would be lifted as soon as someone stopped using the drug.
Justice Neil Gorsuch said the court’s unanimous decision was a close one. He said he did not address efforts to ban addicts from owning guns, keep guns out of the hands of convicted felons, or whether the government could prove that a particular person’s marijuana use makes them too dangerous to arm themselves.
But the government can’t jail or disarm people for life just for using marijuana a few times a week, he wrote.
“Having said this, we have no doubt that an individual’s illegal use of marijuana (or any other controlled substance) may sometimes pose a danger to others,” Gorsuch wrote. “But again, the government denies the need to make such a showing in this case.”
Gun owners used marijuana ‘almost every other day’
Ali Hemani, a dual U.S.-Pakistani citizen, was being monitored by the FBI at the time of his arrest for suspected ties to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards paramilitary group. The government has designated the security forces as a global terrorist group.
During a 2022 raid of his Texas home, Hemani told investigators he had a Glock 9mm handgun and said he used marijuana “almost every other day.”
The government attempted to detain Mr. Hemani on more serious criminal charges, but he was charged only with being an illegal user of marijuana and possessing a firearm. Violating this law is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Lower courts sided with gun owners.
The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the gun ban could not apply to Hemani, citing a 2022 Supreme Court ruling that said gun regulations “must be consistent with this country’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”
This is supported by history and tradition, but there are certain limitations. the current The appeals court said that “the right of an inebriated person to bear arms cannot be recognized” and that it “does not support disarming a sober person solely on the basis of past drug use.”
The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to overturn the ruling, arguing that the nation’s founding law limited the rights of regular drinkers, even when sober.
Erin Murphy, a lawyer representing Hemani, countered that the point of the historic law was to distinguish between drinkers and binge drinkers.
He said during oral argument in March that modern law cannot be applied broadly enough to “capture the kinds of things that people across the country use regularly, legally, several days a week.”
Regarding marijuana, Murphy said, “Most states and the president have determined that marijuana is not addictive or dangerous enough to be safe for anyone to use.”
Gun rights groups and marijuana legalization groups supported Hemani, as did the American Civil Liberties Union. Gun safety groups that have opposed the Trump administration in other Second Amendment cases also supported the Justice Department.
Every year, hundreds of drug users are charged with gun possession.
The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers says the law’s provisions are used less for public safety reasons and more as a means of selective prosecution, the use of plea bargaining, or “a means to imprison law-abiding citizens when the government’s underlying theory is inadequate.”
The association said in its filing that Hemani’s lawsuit vindicates their claims. Because the government was unable to establish the desired charges, the law in question offered an easy alternative “because both drug use and firearm ownership are ubiquitous features of American life.”
The government says it prosecutes more than 300 people each year for possessing a gun while illegally using a controlled substance or being addicted to drugs. The Justice Department said the provision “plays an important role” in a series of rules designed to keep firearms out of the hands of dangerous or irresponsible individuals. The Gun Control Act of 1968 was passed in response to the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.
Hunter Biden was pardoned by his father in the final weeks of President Joe Biden’s term, but was convicted in 2024 of violating the law for purchasing a gun despite knowing he was addicted to drugs.
