Legal Newsline reports there is “a federal law that prohibits “habitual” users of marijuana and other drugs from possessing guns.”
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has weighed in on a U.S. Supreme Court case in which a man quite sympathetic with Iran had a gun when his home was searched and admitted to using marijuana every other day.
Although Illinois Democrats legalized recreational marijuana six years ago, Raoul argued that the state should still be allowed to cite “habitual” use of marijuana to justify blocking people from owning guns.
The defendant filed a suit claiming the gun-owning prohibition was unconstitutional, violating the Second Amendment.
Legal Newlines reports, “At the Supreme Court, the federal government argued the law should be considered constitutional because they are similar to bans that date back to America’s Founding Era blocking ‘drunkards’ from carrying guns.”
Raoul joined a statement that pot using gunowners present “unique dangers.”
“I am urging the Supreme Court to reverse the appellate court’s decision because the mix of habitual drug use and firearms poses recognized public safety risks,” Raoul said in a statement announcing the filing of the amicus brief.
“Allowing habitual drug users to carry or use firearms significantly increases danger to our communities.”
