U.S. News
Banning guns for marijuana users is unconstitutional, federal judge rules
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
- A federal judge in Oklahoma ruled that a law prohibiting marijuana users from owning firearms is unconstitutional.
- The judge dismissed an indictment against a man who was charged in August with violating that ban.
- On Thursday, a U.S. Court of Appeals declared that a federal law banning people under domestic violence restraining orders from owning firearms is unconstitutional.
A federal judge in Oklahoma ruled Friday that a law barring marijuana users from possessing firearms is unconstitutional.
The ruling is the latest challenge to firearms regulations after the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority set new standards for reviewing the nation’s gun laws.
U.S. District Judge Patrick Wyrick in Oklahoma City dismissed an indictment against Jared Michael Harrison, who was charged in August with violating a federal law that makes it illegal for “unlawful users or addicts of controlled substances” to possess firearms.
Harrison’s lawyers had argued the portion of federal firearms law focused on drug users or addicts was not consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation, echoing what the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year in a case known as New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. That case set new standards for interpreting the Second Amendment.
Federal prosecutors, on the other hand, had argued that the portion of the law focused on drug users is “consistent with a longstanding historical tradition in America of disarming presumptively risky persons, namely, felons, the mentally ill, and the intoxicated.”
Wyrick agreed with Harrison’s lawyers, ruling that federal prosecutors’ arguments that Harrison’s status as a marijuana user “justifies stripping him of his fundamental right to possess a firearm … is not a constitutionally permissible means of disarming Harrison.”
“But the mere use of marijuana carries none of the characteristics that the Nation’s history and tradition of firearms regulation support,” Wyrick said in his ruling.
On Thursday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in New Orleans ruled that a federal law banning people with domestic violence restraining orders from owning firearms is unconstitutional.
Source: The Associated Press
David Dutra
February 7, 2023 at 7:54 pm
Every mind altering drug on the planet (in it’s purest form) has “poison” written in it !
There is no way to safely inhale any burning smoke on the planet without the risk if cancer… These are undisputable, undeniable facts!!! Marijuana can be addictive! nearly all people that dring and smoke pot will at one time or another try other ways to get out of their own minds…
Kids want to do what their parents do… If you want your kids to do these things; you’re already in need of help !
GOOD LUCK !!!
Guest
February 7, 2023 at 10:52 pm
Uh David? What have you been smoking? No gun for you!
gary orr
February 8, 2023 at 9:46 am
51 years ago I caught 2 felony charges for drugs. I made a geographical change shortly after that and have led a spartan life style since. I am however forbidden the opportunity to hunt game on my own land, protect my family from deadly harm with a firearm, ( my family’s life is worth less because of this ludicrous law since they are in the same life with an EX felon, and meantime, children can illegally buy AR15’s on the way to a bordering state to shoot BLM protesters, people convicted of domestic violence are free to arm up, unindicted felons and people with records of violence are free to work their magic, MTG assaults a person who had a child murdered in a school masacre on the sidewalk in D.C. and then announces she is a gun carrier and owner,(sounds like assault with a deadly weapon to me), the second amendment should make all citizens without violent crime history and even those after a 5 or ten year grace period legal owners and possessers. PERIOD!
Gary Keeler
February 8, 2023 at 11:10 am
Gary Orr..you neglected to clearly detail what your 2 felonies consisted of? You also falsley stated that an anonomous underage person supposedly bought an Armalite-styled rifle illegally…If you’re referring to Kyle…no..he did not have an illegal firearm.You accuse him of murdering thugs who were chasing him who had weapons,one of them a firearm,and were threatening to kill him…of course….you neglected to state the myriad of crimes,including murder,that these thugs and their ilk were engaged in all across America…or..that they were being applauded and their bails being paid by corrupt politicians and left wing morons so they could continue their crime sprees…..meanwhile…unarmed,non-violent protestors from Jan 6th 2020 are still in the DC Gitmo prison,some in solitary confinement,being denied a fair hearing in a court of our law by an unbiased judge and jury of their peers..you know…that pesky Writ of Habeaus Corpus-that’s in our Constitution…we’ve yet to see even one if the pieces of trash that robbed,looted,pillaged,assaulted,murdered,destroyed private and federal property,etc,etc…prosecuted by this commie trash that has stolen control of our govt..nnwhat do you suppose those victims of their hundreds of crimes would tell you?
So…what are the details of your multiple convictions? Have you tried to plead your case with your attorney?Anything beyond an ounce of weed…well…shoulda known better sir!
David Dutra
February 8, 2023 at 1:37 pm
TURN IT AROUND !
BAN MARIJUANA FIR GUN OWNERS. BEING UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF “ANY MIND ALTERING DRUG” WHILE IN POSESSION IF A FIREARM SHIULD BE A MORE SEVERE CRIME THAN A DUI !!!