Second Amendment supporters who are also cannabis enthusiasts scored another victory Wednesday in the battle to secure the same freedoms enjoyed by those who indulge in alcohol. 

In U.S. v. Connelly, a three-judge panel of the New Orleans-based Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals determined that a Texas woman should not have lost her right to keep and bear arms simply because she was a “non-violent, marijuana-smoking gun owner.”

The ruling, enunciated by Circuit Judge Kurt Engelhardt, explained the jurists’ reasoning. 

He wrote, “The short of it is that our history and tradition may support some limits to a presently intoxicated person’s right to carry a weapon, but they do not support disarming a sober person based solely on past substance usage.”

Engelhardt added, “Marijuana user or not, Paola is a member of our political community and thus has a presumptive right to bear arms.” The ruling cast aside all charges she faced.

The determination upheld a previous district court ruling that supported the rights of marijuana users who are not currently under the influence to possess firearms.

The case stemmed from a December 2021 incident in Texas in which police were called with reports of a man having a conflict with a neighbor. His wife, Paola Connelly, told officers that shots were fired at her home.

As investigators questioned her, she admitted that she was an occasional marijuana user. Meanwhile, a search of her residence found several firearms. 

Attorneys for the Department of Justice (DOJ) told the court that the federal prohibition on marijuana users having weapons is consistent with the nation’s history and tradition of firearms regulations. This is a requirement of the landmark 2022 U.S. Supreme Court Bruen decision, which directly led to several gun control laws being tossed aside.

The DOJ claimed that there is a precedent for barring firearm possession by “mental defectives” and others. The argument then became whether marijuana users are “mental defectives,” even when not partaking.

The Court of Appeals was not swayed by this argument and did not equate marijuana consumption with being daft.

It wrote, “Laws designed to disarm the severely mentally ill do not justify depriving those of sound mind of their Second Amendment rights. The analogy stands only if someone is so intoxicated as to be in a state comparable to ‘lunacy.’ Just as there is no historical justification for disarming citizens of sound mind, there is no historical justification for disarming a sober citizen not presently under an impairing influence…”

The Court continued. It delved into whether Paola Connelly was more like a person with a severe mental illness or one who regularly consumes alcohol. The wise conclusion was that she is much more akin to the beer drinker who should be disarmed when intoxicated by alcohol than a mental defective who must have their gun rights stripped altogether.

The panel concluded that the Founders had no intent of disarming sober, law-abiding citizens.

Finally, the Court took issue with the government’s assertion that it possessed the power to eradicate gun rights from those considered “dangerous” and that marijuana users fall into this category.

Instead, Engelhardt wrote, “Not one piece of historical evidence suggests that, at the time they ratified the Second Amendment, the Founders authorized Congress to disarm anyone it deemed dangerous.”

Only if the defendant’s drug use was so pervasive and the drugs severely debilitating as to render her “permanently impaired” would there be a legitimate argument for stripping her gun rights. While no one favors having intoxicated persons handling weapons, occasional use of alcohol and mild recreational drugs is not an excuse to completely erase Second Amendment rights.

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