Federal Court Says Ban on Guns For Users Of Marijuana Is Unconstitutional!

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Summary

Longstanding federal legislation making it illegal for those with marijuana convictions to be in possession of firearms has been deemed unconstitutional, according to a ruling by a federal judge in Oklahoma’s Western District. Separately, the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit is still considering a challenge to the federal government’s interpretation of the 1968 statute that was initially brought by former Florida Agricultural Commissioner Nikki Fried and numerous medicinal cannabis users. Here we are, however, with the federal government saying that [the defendant’s] mere position as a user of marijuana warrants revoking his Second Amendment right to possess a firearm. To my knowledge, this is the first time a federal court has decided against the government’s expansive interpretation of a 1968 law barring the possession or sale of a handgun to an “unlawful user” of a federally banned substance. And just because a lawmaker says so doesn’t make marijuana use suddenly aggressive, threatening, or violent.

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Longstanding federal legislation making it illegal for those with marijuana convictions to be in possession of firearms has been deemed unconstitutional, according to a ruling by a federal judge in Oklahoma’s Western District.

To my knowledge, this is the first time a federal court has decided against the government’s expansive interpretation of a 1968 law barring the possession or sale of a handgun to an “unlawful user” of a federally banned substance.

The federal government’s interpretation of the law was supported in 2016 by a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which reasoned that marijuana...

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