The government cannot prosecute a man for owning a firearm just because he has habitually smoked marijuana, the Supreme Court decided on June 18. The ruling clarifies a section of the Gun Control Act that forbids a person who “is an unlawful user of, or addicted to, any controlled substance” from owning guns.
“The government maintains that it may automatically strip Mr. [Ali Danial] Hemani of his Second Amendment right to possess a firearm because he uses marijuana a few times a week,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote.
