Biden’s Department of Justice filed a motion Monday seeking the dismissal of a lawsuit challenging the federal ban on gun ownership for medical marijuana card holders.
The lawsuit challenging the ban was filed by Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Nikki Fried (D).
According to Reason, Fried “claims that the policy violates a congressional spending rider, known as the Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment, that bars the Justice Department from interfering with the implementation of state medical marijuana laws.”
On Monday, the DOJ filed a motion to dismiss Fried’s challenge, claiming that courts have “uniformly upheld” the federal ban on gun ownership by medical marijuana card holders.
The motion to dismiss references the Supreme Court of the United States’ June 23, 2022, ruling in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen:
In NYSRPA v.Bruen … the Supreme Court held that a state firearms regulation violated the Second Amendment because it “prevent[ed] law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their right to keep and bear arms.”… By contrast, the laws challenged here impose no burden on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens. These laws merely prevent drug users who commit federal crimes by unlawfully possessing drugs from possessing and receiving firearms, and only for so long as they are actively engaged in that criminal activity.
The DOJ uses the motion to claim that “restrictions on unlawful drug users are ‘consistent with this Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.’”
The DOJ notes:
Two closely related traditions are analogous: the tradition of restricting the firearms rights of those who commit crimes and therefore are not “law-abiding citizens,” id. at 2156, and the tradition of disarming those whose behavior or status would render their firearms possession a danger to themselves or the community. Possession of illegal drugs, including marijuana, is a federal crime.
Question 21-e on ATF firearm transaction Form 4473 asks: “Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?”
The question also carries this warning: “The use or possession of marijuana remains unlawful under Federal law regardless of whether it has been legalized or decriminalized for medicinal or recreational purposes in the state where you reside.”
The case is Fried v. Garland, No. 4:22-cv-164, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida.