What the Hemani Decision Means for Those of Us Not Named Hemani

With the Supreme Court unanimously ruling that Ali Danial Hemani’s Second Amendment rights were violated when he was arrested and prosecuted for possessing a firearm while “regularly” using marijuana, does this mean that every pot smoker or drug user is now free and clear to exercise their Second Amendment rights without fear of criminal charges? 

Nope. The Court was clear that this was a narrow decision, and did not strike down Section 922(g)(3) in its entirety. In fact, it left the door wide open for federal prosecutions (and arrests) to continue, so long as the government can provide evidence that a particular individual’s drug use makes them a danger to themselves or others. The government can also argue that the use of a particular drug is categorically dangerous, rendering any user prohibited from possessing firearms. 

So can you smoke weed and own guns?
Not safely as a blanket rule. The ruling does not mean marijuana users can freely possess guns without risk. It means the federal government cannot automatically disarm or prosecute someone based only on marijuana use, without historical…

— Chuck Michel (@CRPAPresident) June 18, 2026

So can you smoke weed and own guns? Not safely as a blanket rule. 

The ruling does not mean marijuana users can freely possess guns without risk. It means the federal government cannot automatically disarm or prosecute someone based only on marijuana use, without historical support or some stronger showing of dangerousness, addiction, intoxication, or misuse.Under Hemani, the government cannot automatically prosecute every marijuana user for gun possession merely because they use weed a few times a week, at least where there is no evidence the person is addicted, intoxicated while armed, dangerous, or misusing the firearm. But federal law still says that an “unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance” may not possess firearms or ammunition.

The Court did not strike down that statute across the board. It decided only that the government’s prosecution of Hemani, based on ordinary marijuana use without more, violated the Second Amendment. So occasional or regular marijuana users now have a strong Second Amendment defense if prosecuted under § 922(g)(3), but marijuana use plus gun possession remains risky under the statute until courts and prosecutors apply Hemani more broadly.

The Hemani decision will likely spark a number of follow-up cases, particularly in states that prohibit individuals with a medical marijuana card or permit from lawfully possessing firearms or obtaining a concealed carry license, but it does not automatically render those statutes moot or invalid even if they’re unlikely to be upheld in the wake of today’s opinion. 

As Michel says, there are still some risks involved for those who want to partake of their Second Amendment rights and marijuana. Possessing a gun while actively under the influence is certainly a prosecutable offense, and I expect those laws will continue to be actively enforced. 

Other laws, like state-level offenses barring marijuana users from possessing carry licenses or permits to possess a firearm, aren’t automatically wiped off the books just because of today’s ruling either. I’d like to think that Hemani will prompt lawmakers in states where those laws are currently in place to repeal those measures, but we could see resistance in both red and blue states; with the former objecting to anything that might expand drug use and the latter hoping to prevent more gun ownership. 

Hemani isn’t a green light for gun owners to indulge in the devil’s lettuce, but I suspect that it will have a significant impact on the legal landscape in the months ahead, and not just at the federal level.  

Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

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