According to Reuters, the Supreme Court ruled last month that the Constitution of the United States of America protects an individual's right to carry a handgun in public for self-defense. A week after the monumental decision, the Supreme Court dismissed numerous cases. It remanded them to lower courts for review, including Maryland restrictions on assault-style guns and New Jersey and California bans on large-capacity ammunition magazines.
In light of these recent developments, Nikki Fried, Florida's agriculture and consumer services commissioner, who sued the Biden administration earlier this year to allow medicinal cannabis cardholders in the state to purchase and possess firearms, filed a revised complaint in a federal district court on Friday, according to Marijuana Moment. The initial case was filed in April of this year. Fried's lawyers and other plaintiffs contended that under the recent SCOTUS ruling, current government policy prohibiting persons who admit to using marijuana during the background check process from purchasing and carrying firearms could not be implemented.
The amended filing stated, "Quite simply, there is no historical tradition of denying individuals their Second Amendment rights based solely (or even partially) on the use of marijuana." "In fact, historical evidence shows that marijuana was considered a legitimate and legal form of medicine in England, the U.S. and other western countries through the mid-Nineteenth and early-Twentieth Centuries. It was also discussed and researched for its medical properties in and around the time the Second Amendment was ratified. There was no law or regulation preventing marijuana users from possessing firearms in or around those time periods. Rather, such a ban did not exist until around the mid-Twentieth Century."
Fried recently stated that she is advocating for cannabis users who cannot acquire a gun and face about five years in prison if they lie about it, in expectation of the Justice Department's response to the lawsuit.
In the words of Fried, "This is not about guns, per se. This is about the fact that, for decades, marijuana patients have been discriminated against—that they see their rights not being completely afforded to them, whether it is on housing or access to banking or employment. And this is one of their other rights." The Department of Justice has until August 8 to reply to the new filing.
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