Supreme Court Rules Government Can’t Restrict Gun Rights for Casual Drug Users

On June 18, the Supreme Court voted 9-0 to bar the federal government from restricting the gun rights of casual drug users in America.

The ruling doesn’t invalidate the law across the board, but it makes it more challenging for prosecutors to invoke it—especially as it relates to casual drug users.

The case stems from the arrest of a Texas cannabis consumer who challenged the gun rights law as unconstitutional, contending that it violated his Second Amendment right to bear arms and is unconstitutionally vague. The law prevents “unlawful” drug users from owning guns, but the Texan’s lawyers pointed out in filings to the Supreme Court that the statute does not define “unlawful user.”

Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote, “It does not address efforts to ban addicts or those presently intoxicated from possessing a firearm; other prophylactic laws Congress might adopt after determining that users of a particular drug pose a special risk of misusing firearms … provision disarming individuals convicted of felonies; or whether the government could bring a prosecution … accompanied by individualized proof that the defendant’s drug use renders him a danger to himself or others, or proof that a certain drug always renders its users dangerous.”