USA: Ban on gun possession for cannabis users is unconstitutional

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Cannabis use is compatible with gun ownership, according to an Oklahoma judge

Photo: IMAGO/rolf kremming / IMAGO/Rolf Kremming

A US federal law that bans cannabis users from owning firearms is unconstitutional, an Oklahoma judge has ruled.

He referred to a ruling by the US Supreme Court last year that significantly expanded gun law.

District Judge Patrick Wyrick was appointed by former Republican US President Donald Trump.

He acquitted a man charged with violating the ban.

Wyrick's reasoning was that the ban violated the Second Amendment right to bear arms.

According to Wyrick, the government should protect the public from dangerous individuals who have firearms.

But she could not argue that "mere status as a cannabis user justifies depriving the defendant of his fundamental right to own a firearm." Cannabis use is "in and of itself not a violent or threatening act."

The ruling also states that "the mere use of cannabis bears none of the characteristics that make up the history and tradition of the country's regulation of firearms".

Supreme Court relaxed gun laws

The defendant's public defender said the ruling was a "step in the right direction for many Americans who deserve the right to bear arms and protect their homes just like every other American."

She cited cannabis as the most commonly used drug that is illegal at the federal level.

Possession, consumption and trading are prohibited there.

Oklahoma is one of the states where the drug can be legally purchased for medicinal purposes.

The US Department of Justice is likely to appeal this ruling.

This is the latest court ruling to rule that a gun ban is unconstitutional following the Supreme Court's landmark ruling on the matter.

In the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v.

Bruen, the right-wing majority justices ruled by a six-to-three vote in June 2022 that the Second Amendment protects a person's right to carry a handgun in self-defense in public.

That ruling now requires firearms laws to be "consistent with this country's historical tradition of firearms regulation."

Prior to the Oklahoma ruling, a New Orleans, Louisiana appeals court had ruled another federal law unconstitutional.

The law prohibits persons on domestic violence restraining orders from owning firearms.

jso/Reuters