Drug use and guns are not a good combination. I’m never going to recommend using firearms when you’re using anything that can alter your perceptions and thinking.
Having said that, I also believe the Second Amendment to be absolute, meaning that I argue that something like using illegal drugs shouldn’t prevent you from being able to exercise your Second Amendment rights.
Nor does using drugs mean that you’re not responsible for the consequences of making bad decisions (like using firearms while high).
And now the Supreme Court is going to decide whether users of illegal drugs have gun rights, too. Matthew Vadum writes,
The Supreme Court on Oct. 20 agreed to consider whether a federal law barring illegal drug users from possessing firearms is constitutional.
Hunter Biden was convicted under the same law in June 2024, but his father, then-President Joe Biden, pardoned him in December 2024.
The justices granted the petition in United States v. Hemani without comment in an unsigned order. No justices dissented.
The respondent, Ali Danial Hemani, is a dual citizen of the United States and Pakistan, according to the government’s petition.
The petition describes Hemani as “a drug dealer who uses illegal drugs.” The FBI obtained a search warrant to search his home and found a Glock 9mm pistol, 60 grams of marijuana, and 4.7 grams of cocaine.
Now, I’m sure that this case puts many people on the political left into contortions. After all, those on the political left tend to support legalizing drugs, but they also tend to support banning guns.
This case puts those two positions at odds with each other.
Personally, I wouldn’t recommend that anyone use illegal drugs (I saw what they did to people that I knew when I was younger). If you’re going to do that, though, I strongly recommend not using firearms while on drugs.
I still stand by my argument that even drug users have Second Amendment rights. The caveat that I would add is that the bad decisions that drug users too often make while high could end up with ugly consequences for them because with the right to bear arms comes the responsibility for the consequences of their use.
