The National Rifle Association has aligned itself with prominent drug policy reform advocates in a high-profile challenge to a federal law that bars cannabis users from owning or purchasing firearms. In a brief submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court, the gun rights group urged justices to strike down the restriction, arguing that it violates the Second Amendment and lacks grounding in American legal history.
The case, U.S. vs. Hemani, centers on 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3), a statute that makes it illegal for individuals who use controlled substances to possess guns. The NRA’s filing supports a lower court decision that found the provision unconstitutional.
Drawing on recent Supreme Court precedent, the group maintains that gun laws must be grounded in historical practice. According to the NRA, early American lawmakers addressed intoxication by regulating specific behavior, such as carrying or firing weapons while impaired, rather than stripping people of gun rights based on their status as users of alcohol or other substances.
The brief criticizes the government’s reliance on what it describes as weak historical comparisons, including old laws related to civil commitment and vagrancy. It also notes that certain historical surety laws required individualized risk findings, a safeguard that the current federal statute lacks. On that basis, the NRA contends that disarming Hemani solely because of cannabis use cannot be squared with constitutional tradition.
Similar briefs were submitted by organizations including the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) and the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).
NORML’s submission focused on who is protected by the Second Amendment. The organization argued that people who use cannabis are ordinary Americans, including veterans, patients, parents, and workers, and not part of any excluded class. It also pointed to the growing acceptance of marijuana, noting that most states now permit medical use and many allow recreational possession under regulated systems.
That shift in state policy, NORML argued, undercuts the idea that cannabis consumption signals inherent danger. Congress itself has acknowledged this reality by limiting federal enforcement against state medical cannabis programs. The group also emphasized that, for centuries, cannabis was not treated as a serious threat, and that its classification as a Schedule I substance is a relatively recent development shaped by political forces.
The DPA raised separate concerns about the statute’s lack of clarity. Its brief argued that the law fails to define how much drug use, or how recent, triggers criminal liability. As written, the organization warned, the provision could apply to millions of people, including gun owners with no criminal history who experiment with cannabis and suddenly face felony charges and loss of civil rights.
Multiple gun rights organizations filed additional briefs raising similar concerns and questioning whether the Hemani case is an appropriate vehicle for resolving such a far-reaching issue. Civil liberties and criminal defense groups also weighed in, urging the court to invalidate the statute.
Meanwhile, attorneys general from nineteen states and Washington backed the federal government, arguing that the law should remain in place. Gun control advocates and public health groups likewise urged the justices to reverse the lower court’s ruling, citing concerns about public safety and alleged links between cannabis use and violence.
The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments in the case on March 2. Many stakeholders within the marijuana industry, such as SNDL Inc. (NASDAQ: SNDL), will be following how the case unfolds and is concluded by the highest court in the U.S.
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