SCOTUS Ruling Has Marijuana Users High on Their Second Amendment Rights

The Supreme Court's decision in U.S. v. Hemani earlier this year opened the door for more marijuana users to exercise their Second Amendment rights without automatically being treated as prohibited persons under federal law. Now a new survey suggests a sizeable number of those users might take advantage of that decision. 

According to the website Marijuana Moment, a poll conducted by an outfit called NuggMD found that 26 percent of respondents (all of them consumers of cannabis) say they're more likely to purchase a firearm as a result of the Hemani decision. 

“One of the most common questions we receive from patients is whether getting a medical card will affect their right to own a firearm,” Tyler Elson, director of content at NuggMD, told Marijuana Moment. “Our latest poll found that 1 in 4 cannabis consumers say the Supreme Court’s ruling makes them more likely to purchase one, which suggests how many people the federal ban was holding back.”

“Much of the celebration has focused on cannabis consumers being able to own firearms,” he said. “But the more exciting victory is that gun owners no longer have to choose between their Second Amendment rights and their healthcare needs.”

As you might expect, marijuana users on the right side of the political spectrum are more likely to partake of their Second Amendment rights if Section 922(g)(3) is no longer a barrier. About 41 percent of self-identifying Republicans say the Hemani decision has had an impact, compared to 26 percent of self-identifying Democrats. 

If Republicans were substantially more likely than Democrats to express an increased interest in gun ownership, why didn't their responses push the overall percentage above 26 percent? One possibility is that Republicans made up a relatively small portion of the respondents. Another is that independents were considerably less enthusiastic about purchasing a firearm, offsetting the higher Republican percentage. That doesn't seem likely to me, but without knowing how many respondents identified with each party, or how independents answered the question, there's no way to say for sure.

I'd be curious to see those numbers, because they could tell us something important about whether the Hemani decision is generating new interest in gun ownership across the political spectrum or primarily among people who were already inclined to support the Second Amendment. Either way, the fact that more than one in four Democratic marijuana consumers reported an increased likelihood of purchasing a firearm is noteworthy in its own right.

It's also worth noting that the legal landscape is still in the process of changing. The Supreme Court has rejected automatic disarmament based solely on regular marijuana use, while expressly left open questions involving addiction, current intoxication, and individualized evidence of dangerousness. At the moment, the ATF's Form 4473 still presents marijuana use as a disqualifying condition without explaining the constitutional limitations recognized in Hemani. The ATF has proposed revising the language on the 4473, but those changes have yet to be made. 

States also have their own laws regarding marijuana use, and some of those laws may still conflict with the ability to lawfully possess a firearm. The Hemani decision dealt solely with Section 922(g)(3) of federal law, and while it should implicate any state laws that also prohibit marijuana users from possessing firearms it does not automatically invalidate them. 

I suspect it'll take some time before we see the full impact of the Hemani decision, both in terms of the number of marijuana consumers who decide to exercise their Second Amendment rights and the changes to federal and state laws that might be needed to bring them into compliance with the Court's ruling. In the meantime, gun owners and prospective gun buyers are still going to have to navigate a confusing legal landscape, and I wouldn't be surprised if some folks decide to puff, puff, but pass on purchasing a firearm until there's greater clarity about what is and isn't allowed.

Still, the NuggMD survey is encouraging because it suggests that interest in gun ownership isn't confined to marijuana consumers who identify as Republicans. The Second Amendment doesn't protect a right of the Right, and the right to keep and bear arms shouldn't be negated just because someone uses cannabis or drinks alcohol. 

At the very least, the government should have to demonstrate that someone poses a genuine danger before stripping them of a fundamental constitutional right, not simply declare that their choice of recreational substances or medical treatment puts them one toke over the line. If Hemani ultimately leads to more peaceable Americans exercising their Second Amendment rights, regardless of their political affiliation, then it's high time to celebrate. And if some of those new gun owners start looking at other restrictions on their rights with a more skeptical eye, that might spark an entirely new appreciation for the Second Amendment.

Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their extreme gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

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