Second Amendment

Jacob Sullum | 1.7.2025 3:35 PM

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit this week reaffirmed its conclusion that the federal government violated the Second Amendment when it prosecuted a Mississippi cannabis consumer for illegal gun possession. In a decision published on Monday, a three-judge panel unanimously ruled that Patrick Darnell Daniels Jr.'s conviction for violating 18 USC 922(g)(3), which makes it a felony for an "unlawful user" of a "controlled substance" to possess a firearm, "is inconsistent with our 'history and tradition' of gun regulation." It therefore fails the test that the Supreme Court established in the 2022 case New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen.

Daniels was arrested in April 2022 after he was caught with guns and the remains of a few joints during a routine traffic stop in Hancock County, Mississippi. He was convicted of illegal gun possession and sentenced to nearly four years in prison plus three years of supervised release. The conviction also meant that Daniels permanently lost his Second Amendment rights.

The 5th Circuit overturned Daniels' conviction in August 2023, deeming it inconsistent with the Bruen test. Last year, the Supreme Court vacated that decision and instructed the 5th Circuit to reconsider the case in light of United States v. Rahimi, a June 2024 decision that upheld a prosecution under 18 USC 922(g)(8), which bans gun possession by anyone subject to a domestic violence restraining order.

Two months after Rahimi, the 5th Circuit rejected a Section 922(g)(3) charge against Paola Connelly, a cannabis consumer who was arrested when El Paso police discovered that she owned firearms. The court said it was unconstitutional to prosecute Connelly........

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