The Department of Justice has just filed its brief in *U.S. v. Hemani*, urging the Supreme Court to uphold the federal ban on gun ownership for anyone using marijuana—even in states where it’s legal. This comes as the Court gears up to hear arguments on whether the longstanding prohibition under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3) violates the Second Amendment, especially post-*Bruen*’s history-and-tradition test. Hemani, a Texas resident with a clean record except for admitted pot use, had his pistol seized after a routine traffic stop revealed a single THC metabolite in his system. The DOJ’s stance? That unlawful users of cannabis forfeit their 2A rights because weed was criminalized in the early 20th century, drawing a flimsy parallel to historical bans on guns for the intoxicated or mentally unstable. It’s a classic government overreach play, ignoring that *Bruen* demands analogous regulations from 1791 or 1868—not Prohibition-era vibes.
Digging deeper, this isn’t just about stoners; it’s a Trojan horse for expanding federal disarmament. The ATF’s Form 4473 already nags buyers about cannabis use, turning a paperwork checkbox into a potential felony trap—especially with legal edibles, vapes, or even CBD products triggering false positives on drug tests. The Fifth Circuit struck down the ban below, citing no historical tradition of blanket disarmament for non-violent prohibited persons like pot users, who aren’t felons or domestic abusers. Yet the DOJ doubles down, arguing the Court should defer to substantial deference on public safety, a dangerous echo of pre-*Bruen* interest-balancing that’s been squarely rejected. Implications for the 2A community are massive: if SCOTUS sides with the feds, expect ripple effects to age, medical conditions, or even protest participation (unlawful assemblies, anyone?). It could greenlight ATF rule-making on a whim, eroding *Heller*’s core promise of an individual right unhinged from sensitive places or arbitrary vices.
Gun owners, this is your wake-up call—file amicus briefs, rally state AGs like Texas’s Paxton who’s already fighting back, and pressure Congress to fix 922(g)(3) via the SHORT Act or outright repeal. With *Rahimi* fresh on the docket affirming limits for true threats but not bootstrapped categories, Hemani offers a clean shot to narrow prohibited persons. Victory here protects millions of Americans in 38 states with legal weed from federal crosshairs, reinforcing that the Second Amendment isn’t conditional on Washington’s drug war. Stay vigilant; the DOJ’s wrong side is our fight to win.
