Appeals court ruled in favor for cannabis consumer gun owner

Win Win for Gun Ownership Cannabis Consumer$.

A federal appeals court panel upheld a lower court’s ruling on Wednesday, declaring that federal charges against a non-violent, cannabis-using gun owner were unconstitutional.

“The short of it is that our history and tradition may support some limits on a presently intoxicated person’s right to carry a weapon,” the court wrote in the new opinion, “but they do not support disarming a sober person based solely on past substance usage.”

Judges have also contested assertions made by Department of Justice attorneys that individuals who use cannabis pose a greater danger than their fellow Americans.

“Nor, contrary to what the government contends, do restrictions on the mentally ill or more generalized traditions of disarming ‘dangerous’ persons apply to nonviolent, occasional drug users when of sound mind.”

The DOJ has contended in this and other recent legal proceedings that the federal prohibition on gun and ammunition possession by individuals who use marijuana aligns with historical limitations on gun ownership, including those applied to individuals deemed mentally defective and others whose firearm possession poses a risk to public safety.

The Fifth Circuit panel disagreed.

“We must ask: why was severe mental illness a reason the Founders disarmed people, and is that ‘why’ ‘relevantly similar’ to § 922(g)(3)?”

Referring to the legal provisions that prohibit individuals who engage in the use of illegal drugs from owning firearms.

Judges also said the government failed to demonstrate that lawful restrictions on gun ownership by domestic abusers or the mentally ill were sufficiently similar to its law against firearm possession by drug users.

“Marijuana user or not,” opined the court, “Paola is a member of our political community and thus has a presumptive right to bear arms. By infringing on that right, § 922(g)(3) contradicts the Second Amendment’s plain text.”

Read the full Fifth Circuit opinion

Cases

The case, U.S. v. Connelly, is one of a handful of federal court cases.

Paola Connelly is a non-violent, marijuana smoking gunowner. El Paso police came to her house in response to a “shots fired” call. When they arrived, they saw John, Paola’s husband, standing at their neighbor’s door firing a shotgun. After arresting him, they spoke with Paola, who indicated that she would at times smoke marijuana as a sleep aid and for anxiety. A sweep revealed that the Connellys’ home contained drug paraphernalia and several firearms, including firearms owned by Paola. There was no indication that Paola was intoxicated at the time.

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