Photo by Plants for Persephone on Unsplash
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser has joined 18 other state AGs in fighting the repeal of a rule barring cannabis users (recreational and medicinal) from lawfully buying and owning firearms. The U.S. Supreme Court last year agreed to review the case after a lower court ruled that drug users shouldn’t automatically be banned from having guns.
The case is widely seen as another test of gun laws in the wake of the Bruen decision, a landmark 2022 Supreme Court ruling that said firearm regulations must be consistent with the nation’s ‘historical tradition of gun regulation.’ The writ Weiser signed onto says that “Habitual drug use is associated with unique dangers when combined with firearms,” and that “the Second Amendment allows legislatures to confront shifting societal problems with new regulatory solutions.”
Whether or not one considers legal marijuana a ‘societal problem,’ the question of how much latitude states have in dictating who can and cannot possess firearms is a thorny one—and doesn’t always fall along predictable lines.
- WaPo: Under Gun Lobby Pressure, DOJ Looks to Roll Back Gun Regs
- You Can Now Support Colorado Ceasefire by Shopping at King Soopers!
- Good News: Appropriations Bill Passes, Includes $90 million for Violence Prevention
- DOJ Says Mailing Handguns Just Fine, after 99-Year Ban
- Weiser Joins Cannabis/Guns Lawsuit