(WASHINGTON) Global Action on Gun Violence (GAGV) responds to today’s U.S. Supreme Court in United States v. Hemani, holding that the federal prohibition on firearm possession by unlawful drug users could not be constitutionally applied to Hemani based solely on his periodic marijuana use. GAGV’s amicus brief (filed for neither party) argued that the Supreme Court’s recent key Second Amendment decision, Bruen, should be reversed; Hemani is most important for Justice Jackson’s concurrence that agrees with that critically important position.
The Court’s opinion written by Justice Gorsuch reaffirmed Congress’s authority to prohibit firearm possession by individuals who pose a demonstrated risk because of drug use, but that marijuana use alone should not automatically disqualify gun buyers.
GAGV’s President, Jonathan Lowy said: “This case again exposed why the Bruen historical litmus test is illogical, ahistorical and dangerous. While the Court was correct that a gummy at bedtime should not automatically disqualify someone from guns, that’s because of 2026 views on marijuana use, not because of 18th or 19th century laws that now determine the fate of all gun laws. Justice Jackson got it exactly right when she recognized that judges are not equipped to play historians, and courts should assess gun laws with means-end scrutiny, not history. 21st century gun violence can’t be solved with 18th century solutions.”
GAGV filed the only amicus brief that called on the Court to strike down Bruen’s historical test, the only brief for neither party, and the only gun violence prevention brief to recognize that courts could find that marijuana use alone should not disentitle someone to firearms, as courts should consider whether the drug use creates undue risk. In contrast, the Trump Administration categorically defended disarming drug users, including of marijuana.
Justice Jackson, joined by Justice Sotomayor, wrote a concurrence that provides a roadmap to reconsider Bruen. GAGV agrees with her conclusion that: “[W]e should consider whether to retire the failed Bruen experiment and return to an explicit assessment of Congress’s ends and means when deciding the constitutionality of firearm restrictions.”
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Global Action on Gun Violence
Global Action on Gun Violence is a non-profit organization dedicated to ending gun violence in the U.S. and throughout the world, using litigation, human rights actions, advocacy and messaging. GAGV represents the Government of Mexico in anti-gun trafficking litigation, is foreign legal counsel in a Canadian gun lawsuit, and works with the United Nations, the Organization of American States, and other international bodies to address gun violence. GAGV Founder and President Jonathan Lowy has litigated the Second Amendment and other gun cases for more than 25 years.
Media contact: Stephanie Lowet, email hidden; JavaScript is required