Supreme Court Cuts Back Federal Ban on Guns for Drug Users

The justices sided with a Texas marijuana user on Wednesday, narrowing a decades-old statute that made it a federal crime for drug users to possess firearms.

The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday to narrow a federal law barring drug users from owning guns.
The case centred on a Texas man charged after admitting to marijuana use who challenged the statute under the Second Amendment.
The majority found the broad categorical ban could not stand in its current form under the court's recent gun-rights framework.
The ruling does not eliminate all restrictions on armed drug users but limits how broadly the law can be applied.
Second Amendment challenges to other federal firearms restrictions are expected to follow in lower courts.

The Supreme Court narrowed a federal law barring drug users from owning firearms Wednesday, ruling in favour of a Texas man who argued the statute violated the Second Amendment after he was charged following an admission of marijuana use.

The majority held that the government could not sustain a broad categorical prohibition under the constitutional standard the court established in its 2022 ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which requires gun laws to be grounded in historical tradition.

The decision stops short of striking down all restrictions on armed drug users. Federal prosecutors retain authority to pursue cases where a specific historical analogue supports the charge, the court said.

Gun-rights advocates called the ruling a significant check on federal firearms law. The Biden-era Justice Department had defended the statute as essential to keeping weapons out of the hands of individuals whose judgment is impaired.

Legal analysts told the Wail the decision opens the door to fresh Second Amendment challenges against related federal prohibitions, including restrictions on felons and domestic-violence offenders. Several such cases are already moving through the circuit courts and could reach the justices as soon as the 2026 term.