Another win for cannabis gun rights – Cannabis | weed | marijuana

Another United States federal court has won a victory for gun rights for cannabis users. Judge Kathleen Cardone of the US District Court for the Western District of Texas ruled in favor of defendant Paola Connelly.

In 2021, police convicted the El Paso resident on separate charges of possession of cannabis and passing on a firearm.

The court said that “any historical tradition of disarming ‘illegal’ individuals does not support the disarming of Connelly for her alleged marijuana use.”

The Republican-appointed judge called the Justice Department’s case “unvirtuous.”

details of the case

Several factors played a role in this cannabis gun rights win. Namely a recent ruling by the US Court of Appeals. This case, which we have discussed here, was based on Supreme Court precedent.

Precedent states that firearms restrictions must be consistent with the historical context of the 1791 Second Amendment ratification.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) attempted to do this by equating alcohol intoxication with simple possession of cannabis flower.

Judge Cardone cited Biden’s federal cannabis possession crime clemency as an influence. Their ruling says Biden’s presidential pardon would have overturned Connelly’s conviction for simple possession.

Of course, Biden’s pardon didn’t help anyone. But as a symbolic gesture, it now has real consequences.

The DOJ tried to argue that they didn’t just charge Connelly with possession. She admitted to using cannabis.

But Judge Cardone had none of it. The law, which says you must choose between your cannabis and your guns, “deviates from our nations history of firearms regulation.”

The court ruling challenged the DOJ’s position that cannabis users were inherently “dangerous.” Considering that over twenty states have legalized recreational cannabis and “millions of US citizens regularly use the substance.”

“It weighs on credulity to believe that engaging in such a widespread practice can render a person so dangerous or untrustworthy that they should have their Second Amendment rights revoked,” Cardone said.

Another victory for cannabis gun rights

KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images

US v. Connelly is indeed another victory for cannabis users’ gun rights. And nowhere is this clearer than in the court ruling:

“The sweeping ban on the sale or transfer of firearms to unlawful users of controlled substances incriminates the rights of those individuals under the Second Amendment … our nation’s historical tradition of firearms regulation does not support such an inconvenience to Second Amendment rights.”

Hopefully this is a sign for the future.

In Arkansas, lawmakers are asking the governor to clarify whether medical cannabis patients can obtain a concealed carry license.

And in Pennsylvania, a Republican senator wants the state to repeal laws that ban gun ownership for cannabis users, particularly medical patients.

In Maryland, a House of Representatives committee heard a bill to protect the gun rights of medicinal cannabis patients.

And in Florida, a federal appeals court has a case challenging the constitutionality of the ban on guns for medicinal cannabis patients.

A decade ago, few states had legalized recreational cannabis. Medicinal cannabis was unknown in the red southern states.

Look how much has changed. Where will cannabis and gun rights be in ten years?

And for my fellow stoners who might scoff at the mere idea that anyone would ever need a gun, allow me to quote the great Thomas Sowell:

Today’s gun control crusade is like the prohibition crusade 100 years ago. It is a shared fanaticism that binds the self-righteous know-it-alls into a warm fellowship of those who see themselves as warriors on the side of the angels against the forces of evil. It’s a lofty role they’re not willing to give up for something as mundane as facts — or even other people’s lives.

The cannabis ban has done nothing to curb cannabis use. There’s no reason to think government gun control works any better.

All you do is disarm law-abiding citizens.