WASHINGTON (AP) — supreme court It announced Monday that it will consider whether people who regularly smoke marijuana can legally own guns. 2022 decision expands gun rights.
President Donald Trump’s administration has asked judges to reopen the case against a Texas man charged with felonies for having a gun in his home and admitting to being a regular marijuana user. The Department of Justice subsequently filed an appeal. Lower courts largely struck down A law that prohibits people who use illegal drugs from owning guns.
Although the Republican administration supports Second Amendment rights, government lawyers argued that the ban was a legitimate restriction.
They asked the court to reopen the case against Ali Danial Hemani. His lawyers dropped the felony charges after the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the total ban was unconstitutional based on the Supreme Court’s expanded view on gun rights. However, the appeals judges acknowledged that the system could still be used against people accused of being both high-ranking and armed.
Hemani’s lawyers argue that the broadly codified law puts millions of people at risk of technical violations because at least 20% of Americans have tried marijuana, according to government health data. Although about half of states have legalized recreational marijuana, it remains illegal under federal law.
The Justice Department argues that the law is valid when applied to regular drug users because drug users pose a serious risk to public safety. The government said the FBI searched Hemani’s home and found guns and cocaine while investigating travel and communications linked to Iran. However, the gun charge was the only charge filed, and his attorney said the other charges were unrelated and were mentioned only to make him seem more dangerous.
The case is yet another flashpoint in the application of the Supreme Court’s new test for firearms regulation. The conservative majority ruled in 2022 that the Second Amendment generally gives people the right to carry guns in public for self-defense, and that any firearm restrictions must have a strong basis in the nation’s history.
The landmark 2022 ruling sparked a series of challenges to firearms laws across the country, but judges have since upheld it. another federal law It is intended to protect victims of domestic violence by banning guns to people under restraining orders.
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