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Eighth Circuit Narrows Blanket Firearm Prohibition for “Unlawful User[s]” of Drugs

Tuesday, February 18, 2025

Eighth Circuit Narrows Blanket Firearm Prohibition for “Unlawful User[s]” of Drugs

The U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in the NRA-supported case New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022) continues to play a critical role in cases related to Second Amendment rights. On February 5, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit pared back the federal government’s blanket ban on all illegal drug users (even those who use marijuana in accordance with state law) possessing firearms.

Justice Clarence Thomas’s opinion in Bruen made clear that for a firearm regulation to pass constitutional muster it must fit within the text, history, and tradition of the Second Amendment right. The opinion stated,

[w]hen the Second Amendment’s plain text covers an individual’s conduct, the Constitution presumptively protects that conduct. The government must then justify its regulation by demonstrating that it is consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation. Only then may a court conclude that the individual’s conduct falls outside the Second Amendment’s “unqualified command.”

This has correctly prompted a reappraisal of the categories of people prohibited from possessing firearms enumerated in federal law at 18 U.S.C. 922(g). In the historical tradition, the government could bar individuals who have been found to be dangerous from possessing firearms. However, the federal prohibited persons categories go well beyond this understanding.

The Eighth Circuit case of U.S. v. Cooper concerned a gentleman who fell under the 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(3) prohibition on anyone “who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance” for regularly smoking marijuana.

This prohibition has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years, as states have sought to liberalize their laws concerning marijuana. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that “47 states… allow for the use of cannabis for medical purposes.” However, federal law still prohibits marijuana possession, making those who use it, even in accordance with state law, subject to the sweeping 922(g)(3) prohibition. The Eighth Circuit panel concluded that the 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(3) prohibition at least sometimes violates the Second Amendment as applied to some drug users.

The Eighth Circuit panel acknowledged that some drug users can be barred from possessing firearms consistent with the Second Amendment when their conduct is akin to that of the severely mentally ill who could be committed or those “taking up arms to terrify the people,” which were historic causes for disarmament.

Explaining the mental illness analogy, the court stated,

The “behavioral effects” of mental illness and drug use can “overlap”… but only the subset of the mentally ill who were dangerous faced confinement and the loss of arms… It follows that, for disarmament of drug users and addicts to be comparably “justifi[ed],” it must be limited to those “who pose a danger to others.”… The analogy is complete, in other words, for someone whose “regular use[] of... PCP... induce[s] violence,” but not for a “frail and elderly grandmother” who “uses  marijuana for a chronic medical condition.”

Further explaining the “taking up arms to terrify the people” analogy, the court stated that the historic restriction was “a mechanism for punishing those who had menaced others with firearms.”

The court went on to explain,

Sometimes disarming drug users and addicts will line up with the case-by-case historical tradition, but other times it will not … The district court’s task on remand is to figure out which side of the Second Amendment line Cooper’s case falls on.

It is important to note, as the preceding passage suggests, the Eighth Circuit’s ruling was on an as-applied basis, meaning that the individual facts of a case will matter in determining whether the blanket unlawful user firearm prohibition applies to an individual. However, the Eighth Circuit’s more nuanced approach to 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(3) prohibition, meaningfully taking into account the historic tradition of firearm restrictions, is welcome evidence that following Bruen the lower federal courts are starting to treat the Second Amendment right with the respect it deserves.

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California: Governor Newsom Signs Gun Control Bills Into Law

Monday, October 13, 2025

California: Governor Newsom Signs Gun Control Bills Into Law

For someone who has claimed to be"...deeply mindful and respectful of the Second Amendment and people’s Constitutional rights,” Governor Gavin Newsom has once again proven that actions speak louder than words.

First Affirmative Lawsuit in Support of Gun Owners Filed by Trump’s DOJ

News  

Monday, October 6, 2025

First Affirmative Lawsuit in Support of Gun Owners Filed by Trump’s DOJ

California officials’ egregious foot-dragging over the issuance of carry permits has finally attracted the ire of the federal Department of Justice (DOJ). 

Firearm Prohibition Advocates Mute on Jay Jones “Two Bullets to the Head” Scandal

News  

Monday, October 13, 2025

Firearm Prohibition Advocates Mute on Jay Jones “Two Bullets to the Head” Scandal

Democrat Jay Jones, candidate for Virginia attorney general, still has not suspended his campaign, even as pressure mounts over disclosures that should disqualify, to put it mildly, any individual from serving as the chief law ...

NRA Files Lawsuit Challenging California’s Glock Ban

Monday, October 13, 2025

NRA Files Lawsuit Challenging California’s Glock Ban

Today, the National Rifle Association—along with Firearms Policy Coalition, Second Amendment Foundation, Poway Weapons & Gear, and two NRA members—filed a lawsuit challenging California’s Glock ban.

FBI Persists in Underreporting Armed Citizen Defensive Gun Use

News  

Monday, October 13, 2025

FBI Persists in Underreporting Armed Citizen Defensive Gun Use

Three years ago, Dr. John Lott of the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC), writing for RealClearInvestigations, described how the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was vastly undercounting, “by an order of more than three the number of instances in ...

NRA Files Another Lawsuit Challenging the National Firearms Act

Thursday, October 9, 2025

NRA Files Another Lawsuit Challenging the National Firearms Act

Today, the National Rifle Association—along with the American Suppressor Association, Firearms Policy Coalition, and Second Amendment Foundation—announced the filing of another lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA).

North Carolina: Update on Permitless Carry

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

North Carolina: Update on Permitless Carry

Last week the North Carolina General Assembly briefly returned from recess and re-referred Senate Bill 50, Freedom to Carry NC, to the House Rules Committee.

Rehearing En Banc Sought in NRA-Supported Challenge to New Jersey’s Carry Restrictions

Wednesday, October 8, 2025

Rehearing En Banc Sought in NRA-Supported Challenge to New Jersey’s Carry Restrictions

Today, the National Rifle Association announced the filing of a petition for rehearing en banc in Siegel v. Platkin, a challenge to New Jersey’s carry restrictions.

NRA Files Amicus Brief Urging SCOTUS to Hear Challenge to Ban on Firearms Possession by Nonviolent Felons

Thursday, October 9, 2025

NRA Files Amicus Brief Urging SCOTUS to Hear Challenge to Ban on Firearms Possession by Nonviolent Felons

Today, the National Rifle Association, along with the Second Amendment Foundation, Firearms Policy Coalition, and FPC Action Foundation, filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a challenge to the federal lifetime prohibition on ...

Canada’s Public Safety Minister on Gun Ban & Confiscation: “Don’t Ask Me to Explain the Logic”

News  

Monday, September 29, 2025

Canada’s Public Safety Minister on Gun Ban & Confiscation: “Don’t Ask Me to Explain the Logic”

There have been multiple developments on the Canadian gun grab and ban in the last few days, but the most astounding has got to be a leaked bombshell recording of the Liberal Public Safety Minister, ...

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NRA ILA

Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.