Illegal drug use is still a controversial topic in much of America, no matter how many states that it’s been legalized in.
That’s no surprise. After all, many people have extremely negative associations with illegal drug usage either from personal experience or from experiences that they’ve been told about.
But just because a person makes choices that we may disapprove of, does that mean that they shouldn’t be able to have all of the rights and freedoms that other people have?
That’s exactly the question that a Federal appeals court had to answer recently in relation to whether drug users are legally allowed to have firearms. Tom Ozimek writes,
A federal appeals court has ruled that a law barring people who regularly use illegal drugs from owning guns is constitutional because of longstanding concerns about public safety, but ordered a lower court to take a closer look at whether disarming a Pennsylvania man who smokes marijuana violates his individual Second Amendment rights.
In a split opinion issued on July 14, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled in a case involving Erik Harris, who was charged under federal statutes after buying three handguns while regularly using marijuana.
Harris, then 21, falsely stated on federal firearms purchase forms that he was not an unlawful user of marijuana, according to court filings.
I will admit to having conflicting feelings about this ruling.
On the one hand, I have personally seen how, in at least some cases, illegal drug usage can affect the cognitive capacity of the drug user.
On the other hand, I’m also a Second Amendment absolutist who believes that the government should not limit gun rights for adults in the U.S.
So, I understand why some people may want to prevent drug users from having firearms. I’m sympathetic to their concern.
I just don’t think that a person should be punished for what they might do. Punishment (in this case, taking away their right to have a firearm) should only come, if ever, after they have done something horrible that would cause them to deserve to lose that right.
That’s my thinking, though. What do you think about this court decision? Tell us in the comments below.
