Washingtonians Who Use Drugs CAN Own Firearms in New Ruling

A decades-old law which prohibited drug users from owning firearms has been ruled as unconstitutional this week by a federal appeals court.

The three-judge panel on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that the federal law violated a Mississippi man's right to keep and bear arms under the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment.

The defendant, Patrick Daniels Jr., was convicted under that law after police found a pistol and a semi-automatic rifle in his vehicle during a traffic stop, along with marijuana roaches.

Although the law enforcement did not administer a drug test, Daniels did admit to authorities that he would sometimes consume marijuana, which is still a Schedule-1 drug according to federal law, and therefore illegal.

It was argued during the case that throughout American history laws have regulated the combination of guns and intoxicating substances. But at no point in the 18th or 19th century did the government disarm individuals who used drugs or alcohol at one
time from possessing guns at another. A point which the 3-judge panel agreed to.

This, of course, does not mean that an individual can operate a firearm while under the influence of alcohol, or drugs. Merely that simple possession is not grounds enough to deny a citizen their God-given right.

The Supreme Court ruled in June of last year that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to carry a handgun in public for self-defense. That decision also announced a new test for assessing firearms laws, stating that restrictions on guns must be consistent with this nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation.

Many unjust gun laws have been struck down since the Supreme Court's ruling.

In fact, there are now far more states with constitutional carry laws that ones with prohibitive (and more than likely unconstitutional) gun laws like Washington State. Many magazine bans have already been overturned, as well as bans on semi-automatic rifles and pistols.

This is yet another huge victory for the FPC (Firearms Policy Coalition) and freedom loving Constitutionalists across our great Republic. The Firearms Policy Coalition is a consortium of over a million people organized to achieve maximal human liberty including the inalienable, fundamental, and individual right to keep and bear arms.