Congressional researchers are detailing options for how lawmakers could respond to a recent Supreme Court decision to uphold the gun rights of people who use marijuana.
Last month, the nine justices unanimously ruled that the government’s efforts to criminalize possession of firearms for cannabis consumers through a statute known as 922(g)(3) is an unconstitutional violation of the Second Amendment.
The court itself described its ruling as “narrow,” and the new Congressional Research Service (CRS) report on the issue said it “explicitly recognized room for legislative action in this area.”
The court’s opinion in the case, U.S. vs. Hemani, does not address “efforts to ban addicts, or those presently intoxicated, from possessing a firearm,” the majority opinion says. “We do not address other prophylactic laws Congress might adopt after determining that users of a particular drug pose a special risk of misusing firearms.”
“We do not even address whether the government could bring a prosecution under §922(g)(3) accompanied by individualized proof that the defendant’s use of marijuana (or any other drug) renders him a danger to himself or others,” it said. “Or proof that a certain drug always renders its users dangerous because of its potency or for some other reason.”
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